RR09 River Run
by Jonn Wolfe
Summary: The 'Holiday Special'. Keeping time on track means that Team TARDIS has to ensure all the moments that 'River' appeared in the past. It's more like a Big Ball... of Wibbly Wobbly... Timey Wimey... Outrageously Confusing Stuff. Duck and Cover people.
1. Prologue

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter One  
- Prologue -_

* * *

_**A/N:** Hello again! Glad you lot are still around. This first bit wont make any sense at all, unless you've been keeping up with all the different Pete's World glimpses in the previous stories. As always, comments feed the muses and keep me going. This one will more than likely be ridiculous with the amount of chapters going on, but as a Christmas Special, this would most likely be a two parter with two hours each. Like I said... ridiculous.  
_

_Allons-y!_

* * *

The room was a small, stark white brick face, which annoyingly smelled of fresh paint. There was a single door to the place and no windows or mirrors of any sort. In the middle stood a table with two chairs. One of them was filled by a skinny, salt and peppered haired bloke, who looked insanely bored and needed a shave. His green leather coat was over the chair he was sitting in. Tie undone and dangling, he had his blue sleeves rolled to the elbow - even though they'd dropped the temp down to fifty Fahrenheit again. He snapped one of his braces, just to hear anything except his own breathing.

Glancing at his upturned wrist for the umpteenth time, he looked sideways with his eyes up to the camera in the corner and glared into the lens of it. "Dammit, Peter Alan Tyler, I do have to eat you know. Get the hell in here and ask your bloody questions already. I'm starving!"

That was a lie, of course, but an expected one since they'd left him in here to stew or rot for at least five hours. He could go for a satsuma though, or a coffee. Coffee was good. _Tea's better, but..._ Yeah, a coffee would be nice. His foot started tapping again, doing his best to ignore his pissed off bladder, then smirked at the irony of that thought.

The door abruptly opened a few minutes later, and Pete came into the room in full business mode. Plopping a thick folder on the table, he sat across from the man. Pausing to stare at him for a moment, he opened the folder and started reading.

"Daniel Alexander Davenport, born the 18th of March, 1962, and raised in Dartmouth's Home for Boys. Upstanding marks throughout your scholastics, and even earned a Fellmark grant for University in the fields of Chemistry and Physics."

The pause for breath that Pete took was filled with a muttering, "Like you don't know this already, Ginger. We went to the same bloody schools, for heaven's sake."

Looking up from the folder, Pete wasn't impressed. "Valedictorian in no less than four fields of study, you were hand-picked by my predecessor's predecessor on more than one occasion, up to and including your appointment as his replacement as Director of Torchwood One, which you _refused_ in lieu of the position at Torchwood Three in Cardiff."

"And?" he prodded, still bored and rubbing a tired eye.

Slamming the folder shut on the table, Pete was completely pissed off. "How the hell did you do it Danny? We can't find _any_ sort of breach in my household firewall! Was it a leech virus? I _trusted_ you for God's sake!"

Rolling his eyes, Daniel leaned back in the chair. "Didn't have to, old bean," he said quietly. "I already knew what you were talking about."

"You keep saying that, but that simply doesn't make any sense at all!" Pete shouted. "Everything is coded so that no other computer receiver would even _register_ it!" he bellowed.

Pointing to the camera in the corner with his upturned left hand, Daniel still looked relaxed. "Turn that off and I'll tell you how," he grinned.

Blinking, Pete stood up and pulled the wire out of the camera. Even though it wasn't designed for it, he was so angry that he yanked the wires completely out of the socket with a bit of a sparking protest.

While he was distracted, Daniel nonchalantly reached back and fingered something in his jacket pocket, nullifying the other listening devices in the room. Once Pete turned around again, he removed his watch, set it gently on the table, and took in Pete's expression of outright shock with a wry grin.

Ten minutes later, Pete came out of the room as white as a sheet. Leaning against the door, he mumbled a _'dear god'_, then looked to his left and told the guard to let him go.

* * *

Pulled out of school early, Tony was completely confused. No amount of asking would prompt a why out of his father, so he sat in the limo and counted the dirigibles floating in the air.

After they got home, things became more confusing when his father told the staff to go home for the day. All he got out of his mother was a worried shrug. A half hour after the staff left, there was a knock at the door and he was asked to go to his room.

Of course, he didn't do any such thing. Taking a page out of his big sister's book, Tony lay on his stomach at the top of the stair to watch what was going on, investigating. His frown went deeper when he saw Uncle Danny at the door.

Grinning at the sight of his eccentric _non related_ Uncle, he shook his head at that unsightly garish tie of his. After they moved into the main sitting room, he had to shuffle down the stair in order to peek out from under the ceiling. It was a neat trick, since he was still on his stomach and half inverted.

Nothing prepared him for what he saw next. If it wasn't for his mother's shriek of surprise, they would've heard his own loud gasp when Uncle Danny took off his watch. Eyes gaping, it looked like _years_ literally melted off of him. If that wasn't surprising, the sight of his mother hugging him like he was going to disappear _certainly_ was.

Having seen enough, he got up and stomped down the stairs. "What the bloody hell is going on?" he shouted. "Uncle Danny? What'd you do to yourself?"


	2. Goodbyes and Hellos

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Two  
- Goodbyes and Hellos -_

* * *

_**A/N:** Just to let you all know, the plot was heading in this direction LONG before series six of the current even aired. Don't worry, that disclaimer will make sense later. On the flipside, if you are aware of the original show and the audio stories, some of this will make sense to you. The rest will just make you dizzy... possibly crazy too._

_Allons-y!_

* * *

**Earth 2164**

They had done it! The resistance, along with the help of the Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara, finally broke the Dalek invasion. It was flawless, save for the new volcano in the middle of England. Nothing to help with that though. The whole affair was grizzly, what with the robomen and everything. Still, after everything was said and done, there was cause for a celebration. Too bad it was short lived.

Grandfather was gruff as usual, fretting over her worn out shoe. He entered the TARDIS, saying that he was going to mend it. Ian and Barbara had bade their farewells quietly to Tyler, and followed after the Doctor.

In the middle of all of this, David was asking her to stay. It was ripping her in half, and she turned away to lean against a column. Unable to bear it any more, she turned and told him she loved him in a fit of tears. She felt it before it happened, and heard the TARDIS whisper reassurances in her mind. Turning, she saw the TARDIS doors close with a bang of finality.

Stumbling over her bare right foot, Susan shouted in outright shock. "Grandfather!" Before she could say anything further, the external audio of the TARDIS could be heard switching on with a whining pop. Hearing her grandfather speak, Susan began to shake.

'Listen Susan, please. I've double locked the doors. You can't get in. Now move back child, so I can see you.'

Unable to say anything, she stepped back slowly. The only thing keeping her together was the TARDIS sending her waves of compassion and love, along with reassurances that everything was going to be all right.

'During all the years I've been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me.'

"But Grandfather, I belong with you!" she cried, taking her necklace off to hold the key to her home.

'Not any longer, Susan. You're still my grandchild, and always will be. But now, you're a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David, you'll be able to find those roots and live normally, like any woman should do. Believe me my dear, your future lies with David, and not with a silly old buffer like me.'

Susan was shaking her head no, but couldn't say anything.

'One day, I shall come back,' he said. 'Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all of your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye Susan. Goodbye my dear.'

There was a thunk as the TARDIS engines started, and Susan lowered her head in resignation. _'Find her,'_ she thought to him over his protests against telepathy. _'Find my grandmother. I love you.'_ Stepping forward hesitantly, she tested the air where the TARDIS had stood and felt completely lost. Turning about in place, she looked to the sky. _'Find her,'_ she said again. _'Find Grandmother Rose.'_

David came up to her with a hand out, calling to her softly and mindful of her shock. "Susan?" She held her arm out and took his hand. "He knew," he said quietly. "He knew you could never leave him."

Looking to the ribbon that held her key, she felt it pulse once more before going cold. Knowing that it was now a useless piece of metal, she let it slip from her hand to clink on the broken concrete.

Pulling gently, David turned her away from where the TARDIS had just stood. Walking with their arms around each other made it a little easier, but not much. Unable to speak any more, Susan started sobbing. David turned and held her head to his chest. "It's all right, Susan. I'll take care of you, I promise."

She looked up at him, and he wiped her tear stained face. Smiling weakly, she reached up to kiss him. Not having to worry about Ian and Barbara's sixties mentality any more, she opened her mouth to give David a proper snog. He deserved it after all, and she did love him.

Time flared around her then, and she broke the kiss with a flinch of pain. Eyes open in shock, she could see two Davids. One that was kissing an after image of herself, and another one that was asking her what was wrong.

She couldn't speak, couldn't think, and her bypass kicked in when she forgot how to breathe. Her skin felt like it was on fire, but it wasn't an impending regeneration. The image of David kissing her faded, and the one that was holding and asking her if she was all right faded right after, much to her horror.

The universe convulsed, and she heard the death screams plainly in her mind. Gallifrey was burning; the Time Lords were dying; and she could hear her grandfather's mind screaming mournfully. Mercifully, she passed out in a dead faint, calling for him in a whisper. "Grandfather."

* * *

"You - - - - right?" she heard faintly. Someone was shaking her shoulder, and she felt cold concrete against her back. Opening her eyes, she saw a boy of around twelve bending over her. "Ma'am? Are you all right?" he asked again.

Sitting up, she had a sudden flash of memories and wobbled. Holding her hand out to feel the timelines, she realized that those memories were real. The lines were bunched in her current location, like a loop. No, that wasn't right. Scoop. Yes, like the time scoop. Time Scoop? "Rassilon," she whispered, remembering dealing with four versions of her grandfather in the Tower.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked again. "Need me to call for the hospital?"

Shaking her head, she let him help her up. "No, I'm all right." Looking around, she saw that the cracked ruin that she had been standing in was rather pristine in appearance. "But, maybe not," she conceded. "It is still twenty one sixty four, right?" At his confused nod, she looked about again.

If she were to guess, the place was more than pristine. There were new buildings in place that she hadn't seen before. Whipping her head to the south, she couldn't see the mound of the new volcano any more. Turning to the boy once more, she had to ask. "This will sound ridiculous, I know, but have you ever heard of the word 'Dalek'?"

The boy tilted his sandy blond head. "Is that a band name or something?"

Pursing her lips, she looked to the sky in search of air ships. Instead, she saw a flurry of shuttles whizzing about like automobiles in the sky. "No. It's all right. I'm all right. Thank you for checking on me."

"If you're sure?" he asked.

Looking back down at him, she smiled. "Yes, I'm sure. Thank you." He nodded and walked over to a light pole that lined the streets and pushed a button. Watching in fascination, Susan saw a small shuttle descend, and realized it was a Taxi. She waved at him. "What was your name?"

He turned and smiled. "David. David Campbell."

Her smile froze on her face. "Susan," she choked out." Susan Foreman. Thanks again." They waved at each other, and he entered the shuttle. Watching it leave, she blinked back the tears that were forming. _I was going to marry you_, she thought.

Wiping her eyes, she took a step and frowned. Glancing at her feet, she realized that she was a shoe short. She didn't have much time to think on that, when a small crackle of lightning got her attention.

Turning, her mouth dropped open in shock. "Daddy!" She didn't take any notice of the surprise on his face, as she ran over and hugged him tightly. "By all the _stars_, I missed you!"

Looking down, he was completely confused. "Sweetheart, I..."


	3. Time Loops

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Three  
- Time Loops -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I know, loves, I know. It'll get more confusing before it comes together. Just bear with this for a while, and it'll make sense rather abruptly._

* * *

**Earth 5095**

The room was dark, save for the stream of the morning sun streaking in through the slats that were slightly open at the window. As the sun rose, the beams crossed over a snoozing face. Groaning in frustration, the man rolled over and hid his head under the covers.

That bit of defiance was short lived, as not two minutes later a loud beeping short circuited his brain into sitting upright in the bed. "Off... _Off_!" he shouted over the din. Thankfully, the noise died away, but then the computer raised the slats of the window. Squinting at the sudden influx of light, he groaned louder. "You're evil. Can't you let me sleep in? First time I've had a chance in days."

There was a low tone, and the artificial intelligence greeted him. "Good morning, Geoff. The time is eight in the morning. You have two unread messages from Hart; one from headquarters. Following your instructions, I did not wake you when called."

Rolling his eyes, Geoff got out of bed. "_Thank_ you. Good for something at least. Java please?" There was an answering chime, and the scent of it filled the room as he stood up and stretched.

Stepping over to the alcove in the wall, he took the proffered caffeine with a bit of greedy reverence. Smelling it with a smile on his face, he drank the piping hot liquid all in one go. Blinking rapidly as the drink warmed him, he set the cup back in the alcove to let the computer recycle it. Taking a moment to crack his neck, he took a step to the right and turned on the lights around the mirror.

He was in the middle of shaving when the computer chimed again. "Pardon me, sir. There's another call from headquarters."

_Something must be up_. Sighing, he talked while running the beam of the shaver over the other side of his face. "How long ago was the first call?"

"Ten minutes before I woke you sir," the computer said. "They wouldn't leave a message."

Grumbling, he relented. "Answer it."

There was a beep, then he heard his boss. "This is a rarity, Geoffrey. Usually you pick up when I call."

Grinning, he stared at the corner of the mirror that turned itself into a vid screen. The redhead on the line may have been his boss, but she was _gorgeous_. "Morning Nancy. Sorry, but you caught me having an actual nap."

Her eyebrows went up. "Really? I didn't think you slept at all," she said with a grin.

"Okay, you know my secret now," he chuckled, tilting his head back and forth to check that he got all of his stubble. "So, what is it? More chronothieves?" Honestly, he was hoping for just that. Having only just come back from a two week time loop that lasted five years, he _really_ didn't want to put up with anything remotely similar. He was to be disappointed.

"Sorry baby," she said with a slight pout, "those readings you told me to look for came up."

The laserazor clattered to the sink, as his eyes opened wide as saucers. "Are you kidding me?" he asked with a whisper. When she shook her head, grinning, he leaned closer and enlarged the vid window to encompass the entire width of the mirror. "Where and when?"

"Just come in, and I'll tell you the whole thing," she said cryptically.

Frowning at her, he blew out a breath. "Nancy," he said with a bit of warning in his voice.

She shook her head at him. "If this is what you've been looking for, Geoff, I may not see you again." With a look of regret, she turned off the transmission.

Glaring at his reflection now, he shouted obscenities in at least twenty different languages for five minutes straight. Turning, he went to the loo, then got dressed to leave. Still, the blood was rushing through his veins at a brisk pace. If this _was_ what he was looking for, he was going to go home today.

The only thing he checked for as he left, was to ensure he had the two most important things he owned with him: His temporal manipulator, and his sonic screwdriver. Reluctantly, he tucked his sonic blaster into the holster at his back.

* * *

Entering the building at a brisk pace, Geoff was instantly besieged by the one man he didn't want to see for a long long time. "Not now John," he muttered, trying to get past him.

"Is that any way to greet your boyfriend in the morning?" Hart said with a frown. "And why the bloody hell did you not pick up last night? It's not like you _sleep_ or anything."

Head up to stare at the ceiling, a huge breath came out of him. "You're not my boyfriend, and Nancy's waiting for me."

"Ohhhh," he cooed with a grin. "We could double tap that," he said luridly. "And what's this about not being your boyfriend? Did those five years mean nothing to you?" he batted his eyes at him.

Geoff tilted his head. "_Please_, you hated that as much as I did. Now look, I really need to go see the boss."

John looked confused. "Got a new mission already? I thought you had another week off?"

Hands up in front of him to ward him away, Geoff was almost at his limit. "Dystara!"

Hearing his code word for 'back the fuck off', John Hart did just that. "Hooo, sorry. Catch you at lunch?" Getting a grin out of that, he smiled. "Right then. Catch you later."

Sighing with relief, Geoff went to the gravity platform. "Main office," he said. There was an answering chime, and the circle lift rose rapidly.

* * *

Not bothering to knock, Geoff tripped the door with his sonic and barged right in. "Morning Nancy, nice to see you!" he clipped rather rapidly. "Now where the hell is it?"

Nancy Brightman, Director of the Time Agency, looked rather hurt by that brusk hello. She masked that by acting mad. "Don't you dare break into my office and demand things of me!" Standing up from her desk, she went around it to give him a hug. "At least, not without a proper hello first," she grinned.

Rolling his eyes with a smirk, he relented with a 'sorry' and gave her a toe curling snog. She was a bit breathless when he let up. "God," she whispered. "Will _never_ get tired of that." Shaking herself, she went over to the wall and tapped it.

Watching, Geoff saw the rather terrible interpretation of the time stream appear. "I keep telling you, that's not how it looks," he complained.

She huffed and rolled her eyes at the rather old argument. "Yes, I know. Not everyone can understand eleventh dimensional theoretical physics. Now do you want the news or what?"

He held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. Old habits. What'd you find?"

Holding her breath for a moment, she pointed at the screen where a red circle appeared. "The temporal event is localized not ten blocks from here, almost three thousand years ago."

Leaning in to look closer, he read the coordinates and frowned. "Two thousand, nine hundred and thirty one years ago? Nothing happened back then. No war, no invading forces, not even a theft." He turned to look at her. "Are you sure?"

Nancy bit her lip and nodded. "It's level ten on the scale, and left a woman out of place."

His eyes widened. "There were supposed to be two of them," he whispered.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Just the one." Reaching over to take his hand, she pulled it up and flipped his strap open. "I know you already bypassed the security controls on this, but I'm letting you know that it's completely, one hundred percent, authorized now."

Blinking at being caught out, he was confused. "I didn't think you had that authority?"

"I don't, but he said it was necessary."

Eyes wider now, he had to ask. "Did he... say anything?"

She blinked back some tears. "Only that I should shag you now, or never get the chance again."

Smiling, he was so happy that he felt like he was going to just explode. Pulling her close, he hugged her tight and whispered in her ear. "Deadlock the room."

* * *

Four hours of rambunctious office sex later, and Geoff materialized on a street corner. He barely had the chance to get his bearings when he heard a girl screaming 'Daddy' at him. Looking over at her in wide eyed shock, his thoughts were going in circles. _Daddy? Oh hell, who did I fuck in this century? _His thoughts were interrupted by her literally jumping into his arms.

"By all the _stars_, I missed you!" she shouted in his ear.

Pulling back, he looked down, completely confused and lost. "Sweetheart, I..." and then he felt it. Her mind nudged his defences, and he simply gaped at her when he let them go. "K... _Keesha_?"

She gave him a look of pure annoyance. "_Arkytior. _Say it right. I _hate_ that nick..." then she felt it. He was the same, but different. _How could he be..._ "Oh my word." Backing up a bit, she looked him over and simply gaped at his timelines. Blinking rapidly, she shook her head and laughed riotously. "Wibbly Wobbly doesn't even _begin_ to cover this! Oh, I _missed_ you Geoff!"

He grinned confusedly as she flung herself into his arms again. "Care to let me in on the secret? You know I can't see them as well as you."

She had her arms wrapped around his neck and was giggling happily. "First, we find the TARDIS. I think you'll figure it out when we get there."


	4. Time is Relatives

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Four  
- Time is Relatives -_

* * *

_We Now Return You  
To Your Regularly Scheduled Programme  
Already In Progress_

* * *

**Cardiff 2009**

The strangest part of staying through December, was the absolute _lack_ of any alien intervention interrupting the Christmas Holiday. On the other hand, there was an unspoken agreement that the weekend before it certainly qualified. Still, even with the nineteenth and twentieth being a muddled mess of a memory lapse for most everyone on the planet, the Christmas Hols went as smoothly as they'd ever done in the past five years… _surprisingly enough_.

That wasn't to say that there was nothing bad going on. Even if people weren't themselves and couldn't remember what had happened, computer records of various Near Earth observation satellites and land based observatories had the mention – _plus a lot of pictures_ – of the rather large planet that had came within a hairs breadth of impacting the Earth... cosmically speaking. Those video reports were the only thing that explained the record high tides that had occurred.

Still, the most amazing thing about all of that, was the fact that there were hardly any recorded deaths due to the tides. Most that either lived in coastal areas or small islands all woke up in completely different areas, and generally on the mainlands. Even island nations had been completely evacuated during 'The Blackout', which is what those two days were eventually called.

Most of the chaos that ensued in the week before and after Christmas Day, was completely due to people simply trying to return home to assess the damage from the flooding. Most were declared disaster areas by the global community.

Usually, Jack would've been the one to update all the different organisations as to what had happened. However, he'd been conspicuously absent that entire week plus the one after, so _that_ lovely chore was left to a rather perturbed Gwen Cooper. All the same, she stepped up to handle that rather beautifully. Her report to the Crown alone increased Torchwood's operating budget by a substantial margin, especially after the Doctor and crew took care of most of the television recordings from that weekend. No one needed to see that, even though some leaked through to some of the pirate channels.

The Doctor had equivocated when asked as to why they were still about in the hub, and it took a single question to Donna to figure out what was up: "She wont leave."

"Pardon?" Mickey asked with his brow all askew.

"The TARDIS," she explained. "She's being all cryptic again, but she doesn't feel the need to go anywhere." Huffing a stray curl out of her eye, a thought occurred to her. "Maybe she likes sitting on a power source for longer than half a day, or something."

John took that moment to speak up from one of the computer terminals from across the way, his deep voice was resonating and rather dry about it. "She's not leaving till you and Sylvia come to an understanding, and you know it."

Her head whipped in his direction with a glare and a snap. "Back seat driver."

"The pot and kettle both want a word with you," John said with a wide grin.

Sighing, Donna deflated even further into the couch next to the TARDIS. "Oh, shut it. You know how she gets," she mumbled.

Making his way over, John patted Mickey on the shoulder, then plopped down next to Donna. "You can't put it off forever, love," he said softly. "Of all people, you know that running only gets you so far. Before you know it, you're right back where you started."

Mickey had sat down again, and rolled his chair over. "Look at it this way, Donna. If I can get over things, she can."

"He's got a point there," John mused with a grin. "And since when did the idiot start to sound like a wise man?" he asked him with a smirk.

"Watch it. Helps to think about things before you open your gob," Mickey said with his head up, looking at him mockingly down his nose.

"The secret of wise men everywhere," John said with a grin. Turning to look at Donna, he could feel her distress over everything and had an idea. "C'mon, you," he bumped shoulders with her. "Let's go to the quay and get some Italian. Pretty sure there's a gellato out there with your name on it."

Donna fought a smirk, and eyed him from the side. "Just no sausage in it this time, thanks."

"Can I help it if our taste buds were messed up?" he said, grinning his face off. "It's the only thing you'd eat without spitting."

Rolling his eyes, Mickey excused himself from that conversation. The sight of three people having an involuntary battle with food was still something that made his stomach churn. Between John, Donna, and Romana, the TARDIS kitchen had been a complete mess. Out of the three of them, John had recovered first, then helped the other two with his discovery: Chopped bangers in vanilla ice cream. Thinking of that, Mickey smirked at what else happened that night.

* * *

While everyone was disgusted with what they ended up eating, Donna sat back with a bit of shock. She was kicking herself for not doing something about it sooner, but that was easily remedied. Standing, she gave John a mental threat to keep his gob shut, then adopted a friendly expression.

Moving around the table, she tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and got him to stand up. Positioning him just so with a smile on her face, she dropped the pretence and slapped the life out of him with a flaming scowl. "Don't you EVER make me forget again! Do you have _any idea_ what my life was like?" she thundered.

Everyone was wide eyed and staring, while the Doctor had been spun about with his mouth open in an expression of extreme pain. "Donna, I..."

"No! I don't care that I could have died, and you _need_ to understand that." Turning him back around to face her, she ignored his flinch as she hugged the stuffing out of him. "Moron," she mumbled into his shoulder.

While the hug was nicer, the Doctor was still rubbing his cheek. "Donna, I'm sorry. I just..." Glancing at Rose, he noticed that she was rubbing her jaw with a look of incredulity on her face. "Uhm, Donna, in the future you might want to think on causing me pain."

She pulled back, squinting at him. "Oh? And why's that, then?" she snapped. Seeing him incline his head and look over her shoulder, she turned around to see Rose holding on to her cheek with her mouth open, blinking back some stinging tears. "Oh!" Letting go of the Doctor, she leaned down and hugged Rose from the side. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry! I completely forgot all about that!"

"S'allright," Rose said quietly, still in a bit of shock over it. Patting her shoulder, she blinked and shook her head. "Slap worse than my mother, you do." She baulked at what she just said, then mumbled. "Blimey, never thought I'd say that."

Chuckling from the other side of the table, Wilfred was completely amused. "Yep, still my Donna." That of course made her blush profusely.

* * *

Smirking over the memory of that slap, Mickey turned back around and focused on his reports while John and Donna left the hub. Movement in the corner of his eye caused him to turn his head, and he grinned when he saw Martha.

"Hey love." His smile faded when he saw the expression on her face. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to get out of here for a couple of weeks? I know Fiji's out, but we can go skiing in Switzerland or something."

Smiling gratefully at him, Martha shook her head. "It's okay babe. We can have our honeymoon after the world's settled." Coming up next to him, she bent down to give him a kiss. "Besides, I still need to walk down the aisle."

A small chuckle barked out of him. "The day nothing happens, will be the day we retire. Not even then, most like."

Martha pursed her lips with a sigh. "Got a point, there. How're things with you?" she asked with a hand to his screen.

"Not bad, considerin'," he said, putting an arm around her waist. With her standing and him sitting, his arm ended up cradling her bum instead. "Still a nightmare out there, but at least I'm keeping up with the paper work."

They were interrupted by the sound of the TARDIS door opening. Turning, they were surprised by who came out of it. "Oh my god, you're alive!" Martha teased. "And just where the devil have you been, Jack?"

The sight of Captain Jack Harkness flushing and biting his lip caught them completely off guard. When he gave a small wave, Mickey was incredulous. "Wha'? Not going to go ten rounds of innuendo?"

"I knew it was a mistake to come out here," Jack complained in a mutter. Dodging the question, he tried to reclaim a bit of authority. "Everything under control?"

"Oh sure. Everything's just _fine_," Martha said sarcastically. "World's gone to hell, but we're handling it without you."

"I'd hide a bit more, if I were you," Mickey said. "Gwen with a rant on is one thing, but being pregnant on top of that?"

Jack cringed. "Where is she? Need to mend some fences." Both Mickey and Martha thumbed over their shoulders to Jack's office, making him wince harder. "Right." Taking a breath, he let it out dramatically. "Okay, time to face the music."

* * *

In the middle of the Gallifrey Garden, which was more of an extremely large arboretum than a garden, Romana sat at the base of a silver leafed tree. While she had changed clothes to better fit in – what with her denim trousers, blouse, and a lavender wool coat – none of that mattered to her. Staring up at the artificial orange sky through the branches of the tree, she tried very hard to pretend that she was on Gallifrey.

The buzz of minds in the back of hers belayed that wistful imagining. Normally there were thousands upon thousands that would blend into a white noise of comforting thought. They were so few in number now, that she could pick out who was who, where they were, and the general state of them without even thinking about it. Like now, she could tell that the person approaching her was the woman that _replaced_ her.

Shoving that bitter thought out of her head, she looked up and forced a smile on her face. "Hello, Rose." Her smile faltered though, when she felt the radiating concern coming from her. "I'm all right. You don't need to check on me."

Kneeling down, Rose situated herself to sit against the tree next her. Removing her hand from her pocket, she tossed a small white bag in Romana's lap. "Jelly baby?"

Startled from the bag landing on her thighs, Romana looked down incredulously. So many memories from something so small and insignificant rushed through her. A giggle started a round of laughter, which rapidly transformed into hysterical sobbing. Before she knew what was happening, Romana found herself being rocked back and forth.

For herself, Rose sort of knew what was going on when she went to look for her. Having dealt with the Doctor's grief in so many different ways, this was something that she needed to do. There was no one else that she knew of that could possibly do it, and she was actually happy to be there for her. The tang of bitterness that was directed at her at first was something she actually expected. Her bonding with the Doctor enabled her to see many things from his past, including one book smart woman from his home that infuriated and intrigued him... to the point of some 'experimenting'.

Honestly, Rose didn't feel threatened by Romana being there. She looked at her like a refugee of the universe. Even though she knew that Romana was headstrong and stubborn, something she identified with strongly – _and suspected that was what drew the Doctor to her to begin with_ – there was something else too. Grief that was unexpressed could do nothing but turn inwards. Something else she'd witnessed before.

Regardless, even though she didn't mean for it to happen right then, Rose wasn't about to abandon her. She'd intended the jelly babies as more of a peace offering than anything else, between the 'ex and the missus' _as Mickey laughingly pointed out so long ago when it was Sarah Jane_, but the emotional onslaught that the little bag provoked wasn't completely unexpected. Much like what she'd done for Jenny before Jack was up and about again, Rose offered up supportive emotions for Romana to cling to... and she did, rather desperately.

What neither of them expected, was the sudden appearance of the Doctor and Celeste. Romana didn't notice it until they were both kneeling down and hugging them both. Rose though, saw the tell tale sign of the TARDIS warping them to their location. Having been beaten to the other side of Romana by his mother, the Doctor knelt down in front of them to take one of Romana's hands while she cried.

Words weren't necessary, and they were like that for a while, to the point where the Doctor had to adjust his position to forestall the cramps his thighs were getting from kneeling. Through it all, the only thing Romana could stutter out every now and then, was a horribly simple, 'They're dead,' or 'They're gone,' or 'What am I going to do?'


	5. State of Confusion

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Five  
- State of Confusion -_

* * *

Sitting at a table outside Bellini's, John and Donna were busy cracking each other up over different things. From the outlandishly dressed girls fending off the seagulls from their chips – _mostly with how they were doing so with their angry negotiations, tossing things at them_ – to confusing the passers-by from speaking with each other in a different language every sentence… _including_ Welsh.

It was breezy this afternoon and quite a bit nippy, so it was unusual for them to be sitting in the outside section to begin with. They only noticed that from the looks that people were giving them, since neither of them felt the cold. It only added to the hilarity though, which got worse when they ordered desert.

From their shared remembrances, neither of them could think of a time where they'd had tiramisu before, so they both ordered it. The mad dashes the waitress had made to keep herself out of the cold as much as possible earned her a hefty tip, and they both cooed when she delivered the rather sinful looking confections: Finger sponge biscuits, marinated in liqueur coffee, topped with mascarpone cheese, cream, and dusted with cocoa. They timed their first bite together, and were both rolling their eyes back with the bliss of it.

"Ohhh… that is just… fan-_tas_-tic," John marvelled, then cringed and looked about.

Snickering around her mouthful, Donna thought to him to keep her mouth closed. _'It's all right sweetie, Rose isn't around.'_

Covering his reaction, he forked another bite in his mouth and kept the conversation going telepathically. _'All the same, though. Need to get out of that habit. She still stares daggers at me.'_

_'Understandable though,' _she mused. _'She wanted nothing more than to take hold of those ears and snog the life out of him. Can't now. Well, she can, but not like that. I get more of her ire than you do though. I'm the one that knows what it's like, after all.'_

Blinking at that, John tilted his head. _'Yeah, he was an idiot for not making a move sooner.'_

_'You _know_ why he didn't,'_ she chastised.

_'Uptight bastard,'_ he frowned. _'Remind me to never get that far gone.'_

Their conversation was interrupted when they felt Romana coming emotionally unhinged. John's right and Donna's left hands met from across the table and wound their fingers together. Blinking back tears of her own, Donna thought they should go back. John shook his head over it though, hearing his brother telling him they had it.

"She's not alone, but she is," Donna mused sadly. John nodded at that, but didn't say anything more. He didn't need to.

* * *

The sparking crackle through the vortex wasn't something Susan expected. When Geoff had his arm around her, he'd told her to hit the button on his wrist strap. Thankfully it was brief, because it felt like she left her stomach behind. Clinging to his side, she felt the temperature drop and noticed they'd changed locations as well as time periods. Panting from the shock of their transit, she shook her head to clear it. "Time travel without a capsule," she whispered. "How do you get used to it?"

Chuckling, Geoff cracked his neck and looked around. "You don't. Be grateful though. At least you aren't upchucking." Of course, as soon as he said that, she turned away from him and bent over. He patted her back while she had at it, but it wasn't that much. "I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut," he muttered.

Susan's hand found a metal rail to grab a hold of to keep her steady. Forcing herself upright, she found that they were looking out over a body of water. "That felt like the accident," she said softly. "Do you remember?"

Geoff put his hand on the railing and slid his arm around her from the side. "Not something you forget," he said just as quietly. "I'm sorry."

"What for?" she asked, turning her head to look up at him.

He looked down at her with a sombre expression on his face. "I lost my grip."

Susan shook her head while biting her lip. "That was me. She told me to let go of both of you at different times. Counted it out, then…" she paused when she felt his confusion. "It wasn't your fault." Her stomach took that point to distract her with a more than uncomfortable lurch, and she put a hand to her mouth with a grunt.

Even though he was surprised by that revelation, seeing her in such a state sidetracked him. "Hang on. Let me get something for your stomach." He looked around, orienting himself, and grinned when he saw where they were. "You be all right here for a minute? Going to hit the local chemist."

She nodded. "Just let me sit down somewhere." Letting him turn her around, she gasped when she saw where they were. Just seeing the small towers of stone and light filled her with a sense of homesickness. Almost felt like a homecoming, but something was off. Flicking her eyes to the left, she saw the water tower and choked back a sob. "We're home?"

Grinning, Geoff hugged her and checked his strap at the same time. Seeing the date made him frown though. "Damn. Overshot," he muttered. "We're early." Eyeing a bench, he led her over and had her sit down. "Be just a second. The chemist isn't far. Just keep your head down, okay?"

Susan took a seat gratefully and rubbed her rather ticked off stomach. "Don't disappear on me," she whispered.

He kissed the top of her head. "Back in a few, I promise." With that, he stood up and took off in a trot.

Hugging her stomach, Susan bent over and tried to get it to settle on its own. The jolt of the manipulator had her senses all off kilter, but she could swear she heard the TARDIS somewhere. Trying to reach out to her only made her symptoms worse.

* * *

Not even pausing to prepare himself, Jack opened the door and went into his office. Gwen was on the phone behind the desk. From what he gathered, she was talking to the home office about financial reports. Oddly enough, she looked just at home here as out in the field. A half smirk went over his face with the sight of it.

When she saw him, her face became a hard mask. "Yeah, that's fine. Yes. I'll let him know, thanks." Setting the receiver down gently, she looked up at him and clasped her hands together to rest on the desk. "So pleased you graced us with an appearance," she said more than a bit sarcastically.

"I have no excuse, but I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Standing, Gwen walked out from around the desk. "As far as anyone outside of here knows, you've been recovering from your last round with death's door."

"Thanks," he said simply.

There was a pregnant pause, irony included, then she slapped him outright before hugging him. "Please stop doing this to me," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Eyes closed, Jack held her while she had a round of hormonal tears and put his mouth against her hair. "I'm sorry."

"Is she worth it?" she asked quietly.

Grinning to the side of his mouth, he gave a slight nod. "More than anything."

Grumbling, she pulled back to look him in the eye. "She better be. Sweetheart or no, she breaks your heart and she answers to me."

A snickering snort came out of him, and he kissed her forehead. "I think she knows that, hon." His head tilted to the side, and his grin became wider when he felt Jenny's amusement over it. "In fact, I can say that if she didn't know before, she does now."

Breaking the hug, Gwen frowned at him. "Will never get used to that." Shaking herself, she pulled him around the desk. "Okay, here's where things are in the world."

* * *

Finishing their meal, John and Donna were guiltily quiet when they paid the bill and left. Both of them were morose over what Romana was going through, and didn't like that they were happy while she wasn't. Mostly, they held a silent conference in their heads with each other as they walked, arms around each other as much as their minds were.

Turning the corner, they bumped into a tall young man who was pulling a pink bottle out of a white paper bag. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, looking up. "Mum… Dad… Oh shit," he said with wide eyes. "Sorry, can't talk. Wrong year."

He did an about face, but turned around and walked backwards with a rather cheeky smile on his face. "Congratulations by the way!" he called out.

Watching him turn to run off, they could do nothing but blink in dumbfounded shock. Slowly, they turned their heads to look at each other. "Was that?" Donna whispered.

John nodded. "I think it was." Looking back to his retreating form, his head shook slightly. "Our… _son_." Blinking rapidly, his hysterical laughter caught both of them off guard, and she ended up joining him. It cut off rather abruptly though, when they realized what that meant. "_THAT'S_ WHO HE IS!" he shouted.

"Oh my _God_," Donna whispered.

* * *

"You all right?" A Welsh accented voice got Susan's attention.

Nodding, she rocked herself a bit. "Stomach ache. I'll be all right." Looking up, her eyes became round as saucers. "Uncle Yan?"

Standing next to the bench, Ianto recognized the young woman that he'd met briefly. But, it was what she called him that made him drop the large bag of take out. "What did you call me?" he asked under his breath.

Smiling wide, Susan shot off the bench and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her emotions on a ride, she couldn't speak straight through her shaking. "You … oh … _missed_ you," she managed to stutter out.

Standing there with this young woman holding on to him, Ianto was completely floored. However, he wasn't so far gone as to miss what this could possibly mean. "Time travel?" he guessed. Feeling her nod into his shoulder, he looked up when he noticed someone running to them.

Geoff turned the corner, and took off like a shot when he saw who she was hugging. "Keesha, _no_! Wrong year!" he yelled. Coming to a stop next to them, he saw her turn her head with an expression of complete confusion. "Sweetheart, no. That's not _our_ Uncle Yan. At least, not yet."

Gaping at the man like a fish out of water, Ianto was stunned. "Jack? What the hell?"

Geoff kept his mouth shut and took Keesha into his arms. Giving Ianto a pensive look, he flipped his strap open and pressed a few keys. "Not _now_, Uncle Yan. Later. Keep your mouth shut." Hitting the final button, they crackled out of the time stream.

Blinking stupidly with his gob open, Ianto stared at where they had stood. "_Uncle_ Yan? Bloody. Hell." Turning slowly about, he saw John and Donna running up to him. Their expressions mirrored his, and he came to the conclusion that they'd run into him too.

"What the _hell_ is going on?" he shouted at them.


	6. Redaction

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Six  
- Redaction -_

* * *

_**A/N:** Yes, I revealed my hand early. While I know this is completely unusual, this is where the muses led. If anything, I'm hoping this will draw the reader further into the story and not make it too predictable. Promise I'm not off my nut, though. Bear with me._

* * *

Standing there with his mouth hanging open, Ianto's mind was spinning. First, there was the whole 'Uncle' thing. The other was what bothered him more though: _Why didn't he tell me about this?_

As all of that went through his mind, he saw John and Donna running up to him. He could tell they'd run into Jack as well, both from them coming the same way he did and the fact that their expressions were just as shocked as his was. The only thing he could get out of his mouth though, was a rather loud and high pitched, "What the _hell_ is going on?"

They came to a stop in front of him, and asked the same question at once. "Where is he?" With how they grabbed his arms, he could tell they were quite a bit more upset than he was.

He shook out of their hands with an exclamation of pain. "Ow! Wrist Strap! God!" His hands immediately began rubbing his protesting biceps.

"Sorry," they both apologized. Then Donna's hands were in her unwieldy hair. Looking at John, she was at her limit. "_How_ is he our son?" she shouted.

"What?" Ianto started, pulled even further down the rabbit hole.

John pursed his lips and bit back angrily. "How is it _usually_ done, Donna?"

Huffing, she whacked his arm backhanded. "You know what I mean! All of that... all of this..." Her hands dropped to her sides with wide eyes when she remembered her first reaction on seeing Jack on the TARDIS monitor; practically _begging_ him to hug her after the Doctor aborted his regeneration; then later as she knocked Sarah Jane out of the way to hug him instead. "Oh my God," she said in a low voice. "I actually _hit_ on him."

Hearing that caused John to laugh rather hysterically. "He told me he hit on you too, looking like that," he waved a hand up and down at her. "Said you wouldn't give him the time of day."

"I should think _not_," she whispered, then haltingly chuckled over the irony. Shaking her head, she looked back up at Ianto, then John. "Did you see how _young_ he was?" she asked incredulously.

"They both were," Ianto said, still gobsmacked. "And what is this about him being your son? He's _human_!" he barked rather angrily.

John flapped his hand dismissively. "Time Lord trick. If we need to hide out for a while, we can make ourselves human or any other life form we need to. Takes a chameleon arch to do it, and it's rather _painful_ on top of that."

Pausing abruptly, John realized he missed something. "What did you _mean_ 'they both were'?"

"There was this girl," he said with a shrug. "Thought she'd been mugged or something with how she was acting. Called me Uncle Yan and said she missed me. It was completely surreal. Guessed it had something to do with time travel, and she confirmed it."

Donna's head tilted and looked at him quizzically. "What did she look like?"

Ianto looked up slightly, thinking about it. He put his hand sideways on his chest. "This tall; dark hair teased up in a sort of beehive; was wearing a black and green, horizontal striped shirt; dark blue denim trousers..." he paused, looking confused. "The oddest thing, which is what made me think she'd been mugged, was that she only had on one trainer on. It was a forest gree..." he paused mid word when he noticed their expressions. "What?"

The further he described her, the wider both of their eyes became. It was the shoe that cinched it, though. While Donna put a hand over her mouth with a set of tears threatening her, John stepped forward to take Ianto by the shoulders, completely shocked. "What was her name? Did you hear her name? What was her name? TELL ME!" he demanded.

Head rearing back from the volume, Ianto's eyes were wide. "Jack called her _Keesha_!" he shouted back at him.

It took Donna and John half of a second to match the syllables, and John staggered backwards. He fell onto the bench when his legs hit it, and his mind screamed outwards to his brother. _'THETA!'_

_**No**_, came back at him rather strongly from the TARDIS.

Donna heard it too, and her head whipped down to look at the concrete, beyond which the TARDIS stood in the Hub. _'Why not?'_ she demanded. Unfortunately, their dear remained annoyingly silent on the matter.

Looking at how they were acting, Ianto was confused. "What's wrong?"

John ran his left hand through his hair. He gripped it strongly for a moment before letting it fall limp with a heaving sigh. "Apparently, we're not supposed to know this just yet."

"Am I pregnant?" Donna asked bluntly. "I don't _feel_ pregnant. I mean, it's not like I know how that feels to begin with, but there should be _some_ signs."

John's head fell to the side. "I _have_ been feeling a bit queasy lately, so you might just be."

Donna's hands went out in front of her. "Wait a minute. I get pregnant and _you_ feel the symptoms?" At his nod, she started snickering. "Oh, I am just _loving_ this Time Lord thing," she mocked. "Thank you, sweetie," she said with a voice full of syrup, batting her eyes at him.

John's face was rather blank. "You're not getting it, love. We're not supposed to know Jack's our son, or that my granddaughter is alive." His face popped a bit of shock. "Flip. Me. Sideways," he said under his breath. Looking back up to Donna, he grinned. "She's _my_ granddaughter too!"

Sitting down next to him, Donna took his hand. "Ours," she corrected, "and that's a whole new level of awkward. I remember raising…" Her voice trailed off as she realized something, and her hands went to her stomach. "Oh God, we're going to lose him," she whispered.

Hearing that, Ianto's composure changed completely. While John wrapped his arms around Donna from the side, Ianto retrieved the bag of take out from the ground and sat next to them on the bench. Now that he was thinking a bit more clearly, he realized that he was quite literally sitting next to Jack's _parents_. The thought set him spinning again.

"That's why we have to forget, love," John said quietly. "At least for a while. Jack's too important to not have everything go as it did before."

Donna's voice cracked. "It's not _fair_."

Rocking her through her tears, John blinked back his own. "No, it's not," he conceded. "Just remember though: How old was Susan when she first glommed on? That's probably how long we'll have, then we'll still have him after."

Ianto wasn't sure if he should be listening to them, but he kept quiet anyway. Feeling a tapping on his shoulder, he turned to see John looking over Donna's head at him.

"How good are you at keeping secrets?" he asked him. "And, I mean from _everyone_. Can you keep this to yourself, and _really_ keep it to yourself? No One can know this," he enunciated slowly.

Ianto nodded. "There's a lot in my head that I haven't told anyone already. This wont be a problem."

"Promise us," John said with an intense expression of total seriousness.

While the look unnerved him, Ianto nodded his head anyway. "You have my promise."

Closing his eyes, John nodded. "Good. Now in a few minutes, we're not going to know this, and you can't let on."

Donna looked up at him. "No! Don't make me forget again!" she pleaded.

"It's not like that, love," John said gently. "We have to make sure that everything goes as it's supposed to, or the universe will crack open."

"I don't like lies," she said, shaking her head. "And it's a lie!"

Frowning sadly, John touched his forehead to hers and showed her the different times that she'd appeared in the past, without him knowing who she was. She'd retreated from that, but then realized that it was necessary for the time lines to line up correctly. "Damn," she muttered. "Now you're going to make _me_ lie. I don't like that."

"I know," he whispered. His stomach got his attention at that point, and he waited until she accepted it. When she finally did, John looked at Ianto again. "Okay, this is how it's going to go. We need you to back away from us for a bit. I'm going to start hurling here in a minute. When I do, you can come up to us, but we wont remember the last few minutes or so. All right?"

Standing, Ianto nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Nodding back, John shook his hand. "Thank you."

"Sir," Ianto said, before turning to walk back towards the parking area.

Watching him walk away, John wiped the tears out of his eyes. He turned back around and hugged Donna tightly. "We're going to have a son," he said quietly, before telling the TARDIS that they were ready.

Standing at the edge of the Plass, Ianto waited. He was annoyed when he had to wipe his eyes, but this was something he barely understood. Even though John had explained it, parts of it he still didn't get. He looked up from the ground just in time to see John turn around and bend over the bench, erupting. Shaking himself, he straightened his tie and headed over to them again.

Lies he could do, and do well.


	7. Understanding

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Seven  
- Understanding -_

* * *

_**A/N:** The funniest thing about LibraOffice is the spell checker. Cheswick isn't recognized, and the word at the top of the replacement list is Ipswich. The actual city is Chiswick, BTW. It isn't recognized either and suggests Chickweed instead. This is me, rolling my eyes and laughing my ass off._

* * *

"Remove yourselves from my person!" Romana blurted rather suddenly. The press of the three of them had become too much for her, causing an irrational bout of claustrophobia. It wasn't like she was exactly rational to begin with of course, but the supportive concern from the three of them was too much for her at the moment.

Celeste and the Doctor immediately pulled back to give her some space, but Rose held on to her even tighter. "You don't have to face this by yourself. Don't run away from what you feeling or it'll turn on itself, hardening you. It can be done for only so long before you're hurting everyone around you."

In a fit of pique, Romana shoved her away. "What would _you_ know about it? You're not even a proper Time Lord! You can't even _begin_ to understand!"

"That was completely uncalled for, and you will apologize at once," Celeste chastised quietly.

Knowing that Rose wasn't offended or hurt in the least, the Doctor knelt down again and took Romana's hands. "She knows because she saw me do it," he said gently. "Unlike me, you have people around you that can help. Well, I did too, but it took a long time for me to understand that." He glanced at Rose and they shared a small, pensive smile.

"Regardless," he continued, "she's right. If you attempt to hide this away somewhere deep in your mind, all it will do is fester and come out in completely inopportune moments."

"I don't know how to deal with this," she confessed with a shudder. Staring at the Doctor's hands holding her own, she felt Rose and Celeste rub her shoulders. "Can we," she stumbled over her words. "May we please look at this later? I don't think I have any tears left for now, and all I'll do is bite someone." Thinking about that, she looked to her right. "Forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive," Rose said with a soft smile. "Been through this before, but I don't think my final solution for that would be appropriate just now. Hugs and listening I can do, but unfortunately I seem to be bonded already." The smile on her face morphed into a playful smirk.

A look of incredulity crept over Romana's face, then she turned to hug her, chuckling. Rose just rubbed her back, and rocked her with a smile on her face.

Celeste looked to her son with a light smile. "Intelligent, empathetic, and a dry wit. I approve."

The Doctor's grin got cut off when the four of them heard Donna shouting in their heads. _'I get pregnant and _you_ feel it?'_

Backing her head up, Romana looked at Rose and realized something when she heard Donna's English. "I… didn't know you spoke Gallifreyan."

_'Oh, that's Brilliant!' _the Doctor said unshielded, completely delighted.

* * *

The TARDIS door opened, and a very bed 'weary' Jenny stepped out into the Hub. She was in her dark green pyjamas, Jack's midnight blue dressing gown, and slippers. Her hair was completely askew, and she shuffled her feet past Mickey's amused expression at his desk. Eyes half open, she was mumbling 'coffee' slowly over and over.

Seeing John and Donna come in, with Ianto right after them, she murmured "Congratulations," then returned to her coffee mantra. This amounted to: "Coffee… coffee… congratulations… coffee…"

John and Donna gave her bemused looks, and Ianto rolled his eyes before making his way over to the old machine. Shaking his head, John steered Donna to the TARDIS. "C'mon. We need to…"

"…run some tests," Donna finished with him, her brow arching with a smirk on her face.

"What's up?" Mickey asked them.

Grinning at him with a completely goofy look on his face, John pointed at Donna. "We're pregnant."

Jenny had just reached the coffee alcove, when Ianto held out the mug that she'd adopted. She took it with both hands and a bit of reverence, inhaling the scent of it with her nose nearly in the drink itself. Sighing with a smile, she said 'coffee' one more time before drinking half of it. Her eyes popped open, blinking. Seeing Ianto, she smiled wider and gave him a sideways hug, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I'm still supposed to be mad at you," Ianto half complained, smirking despite himself.

The hand at his back lightly tapped it. "Yeah, well. I can only say sorry so often before it gets old. You know I didn't mean for that to happen, and I think Tish is a bit grateful… considering. If she wasn't, I've no doubt you'd be in there with us."

His eyebrows up, Ianto's head flicked back and forth from what she said. His mouth opened and shut without any sound coming out of it.

Seeing that, Jenny smirked. "What? You're cute." She chuckled when he jumped from her slight and brief gripping of his backside. "Tish would be disappointed though."

"You're worse than he is," Ianto said, making her giggle.

* * *

In the infirmary, John and Donna were met by the four other Time Lords in the ship. Rose lightly squealed and hugged Donna while ignoring John completely.

The Doctor patted John on the back. "So… how's the stomach?"

"Shut it," John mumbled while searching for a portable scanner.

Smirking, the Doctor leaned next to him. "Oh really? Dish it out and not take it. I see how it is," he chuckled. "So, where'd you make your acrid contribution?"

Donna pushed both of them out of the way and nabbed the scanner out from behind a small clutter of tools. "I'm sure the seagulls in the Plass are thanking him." Holding it down to her stomach, she let it whir while giving the two of them a chastising look. "Could do with a bit of organisation in here."

Looking about, Romana wasn't exactly sure how to take things. She got Rose's attention with her elbow. "What's it feel like?"

Grinning, Rose took her hand and placed it on her small bump. "Bout like that," she smirked.

Romana gave her a look. "No, but really."

"Really," Rose said, chuckling. "You'd have to ask him," she said with a hand out in the Doctor's direction. "All I get is hungry more often."

"I was much the same," Celeste said with a tilt of the head.

That comment brought the Doctor's, John's and Donna's heads around to stare at her. 'I beg your pardon?', 'Excuse me?', and 'What?' came out of the three of them all at once. They were interrupted when the scanner at Donna's stomach dinged.

Looking at the scanner, Donna grinned. "Size of a grain of rice, and one hundred percent male. No brain to speak of just yet. Probably feel that next week or so." Looking up at Celeste, she had to ask. "When were _you_ pregnant? Theta and Brax were loomed, I thought?"

"They were," Celeste nodded. "However, unlike Braxiatel, I had his embryo implanted. Wanted to know what it felt like," she shrugged. "Doromor wasn't amused in the slightest."

John and Donna looked at the Doctor, who appeared quite stunned. "_That's_ the reason for the whole wormhole nonsense? And father?" he asked with a hand over his stomach. "You never told me!" he said, quite scandalized.

Romana looked confused. "Pardon?"

_'Name calling in the academy,'_ Rose thought to her. _'He has a navel, hence the whole wormhole mention. That, and his father despised him. From the sound of it, looks like it was because of eleven months of feeling wretched, but that's pretty petty if you ask me.'_

Smirking now, Romana failed in holding back her snickers much to the Doctor's annoyance.

Donna ignored the Doctor's bent pride and put a hand to her stomach. Glancing at Rose, she held in what she was going to say. John noticed though, and put an arm around her. He looked at Celeste and sent her a private request. _'She needs her mother.'_

Nodding, Celeste glanced at Donna with a bit of a frown. Schooling her features, she came over and gave her a hug. _'I'll take care of it son,'_ she thought to John, while saying. "Congratulations, darling," aloud.

* * *

Dinnertime rolled around, and they were helping themselves to some Chinese in the conference room. The Doctor looked about and noticed that his mother was missing. "Where'd mum get to?" he asked everyone in general.

"Off doing something important," John said cryptically. He was avoiding food at the moment, and was nursing some medicinal tea instead. "She'll be back later," he said rather lamely in response to Donna's questioning look.

Jenny looked over and jumped to John's rescue. "Aunt Donna? When you get the chance, we need to talk in private."

Blinking, Donna looked back and forth between the Doctor and John before answering. "Sure, sweetie." She snatched up some extra egg rolls and stood. "Now's good. These two seem to be a bit moody."

Grinning, Jenny took her box of Chinese from the table and led Donna out of the room arm in arm. Curious, Rose sent a probe to her daughter. Getting her approval, she stood and took her food with her when she followed them out.

A sudden beeping caused Mickey to jump in his seat. He pulled a small computer interface from his pocket. "Oh terrific. Weevil report. I'll get the SUV."

"Life goes on," Gwen commented.

Jack sighed. "How many?"

"Just the one," Mickey said.

"Take Ianto," he said.

Gwen looked affronted. "I can handle it."

Smirking, Jack chuckled. "Didn't say you couldn't."

* * *

In Chiswick, Wilfred answered the knock at the door with a surprised and pleased look on his face. "Celeste! Good to see you," he smiled. "Wont you come in?"

Exchanging hugs with a smile, Celeste kissed his cheek. "Is it safe to come in? I need to speak with you both."

"Sure," Wilf nodded. "I think she's through sulking, but be prepared."

Sylvia came around the corner. "Who was at the door?" She saw Celeste and lowered her eyes. "Oh, it's you."

"Behave," Wilf said quietly.

Celeste patted his arm and moved past him. Taking Sylvia by the shoulder, she turned them to the living room. "We need to talk."

Allowing herself to be led, Sylvia was unusually quiet. Just the sight of this woman brought back that gigantic and embarrassing rant she made weeks ago. She was still angry of course, but now that she's been away from it for a while, depression over it all had invaded and taken root.

Sitting down on the settee, Sylvia sighed and sounded defeated. "So, what is it this time? More alien nonsense? You've already taken my daughter, what more do you want?" she said quietly.

Taking a seat next to her, Celeste wasn't impressed. "You do realize that the only one keeping you from your daughter is yourself," she stated flatly. "Donna is still your daughter, no matter her appearance, and she needs you."

"What does she need me for?" Sylvia countered. "She's an alien now, with an alien husband and an alien mother in law. Last thing she needs is her ordinary _human_ mother getting in the way with her ordinary _human_ life."

While Celeste prided herself with her scope of patience, this was beyond ridiculous. Standing abruptly, the air cooled in the room as she glared the woman. "Sylvia Winifred Mott Noble, you will cease this false self depreciative rubbish at once! The world is bigger than four inches beyond your nose, and the only one keeping you unhappy is the woman that stares back at you from the mirror. _Your Daughter Loves You_, and _needs_ you now that she is with child!"

Sylvia's head was up and staring wide eyed the moment that she heard her full name. The sound of Celeste's voice was as cold as the sudden drop of the temperature of the room, and all she could do was gape at her in a non too subtle hint of fear.

Wilfred, though equally stunned, was also completely impressed and the first to react to what was said. "My Donna's pregnant?" He stood and hugged Celeste tightly. "That's wonderful!"


	8. Baby Steps

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Eight  
- Baby Steps -_

* * *

_**A/N:** It's strange, but I can't help but listen to Tiesto's remix of 'Resistance' by Muse and Motorcycle's 'As the Rush Comes' while I write this story. Odd that, but check them out on youtube if you're curious. Oh, updated my bio with a recommended reading section._

* * *

Following Donna and Jenny into the TARDIS, Rose felt something odd. It was nothing she could point to and say 'that's wrong' or anything, but the hum of the ship seemed to be more involved, or something. However, running into two abruptly stopped bodies completely derailed her train of thought. "Wha'?"

Jenny's head tilted with a snicker. "Not where we left it," she commented dryly.

Thinking they were heading into the Library, the three of them were surprised to find themselves staring at just the pool instead. Looking up, Donna had to ask. "Got bored, did we?"

_Seemed like the thing to do,_ the ship said. _Sitting on a power source makes it easier, and there's been too much time in simply limping along with cobbled equipment. Time for a refit, don't you think?_

"Is this your version of a regeneration, then?" Rose asked with a smirk. She was concerned, yes, but the tone of the ship's mental voice wasn't pained or anything.

_Something similar, yes. Don't worry. I'll warn you before it comes down to the final stages._

Nodding, Donna grinned. "Just so long as it's a good thirty minutes before. I don't think Himself nor Hisself would be too pleased in having to dash outside at the last minute."

_Tomorrow, I promise. Go about your business; Nothing to see here. _The tones that followed almost sounded like she sniffed the air.

Frowning, Jenny was worried. "Are you okay? Regeneration means you're hurt."

_No, no, Precious, _the ship said quietly. _It's not like that. This is something I've needed to do ever since My Doctor and I survived the destruction of the Eye. We simply haven't sat still long enough 'to bother' before. Staying on the Cardiff Rift makes it so much easier and we have the time now, so…_

"Don't go changing _too_ much," Rose said, interrupting what sounded like a very Doctor-ish ramble getting started. "I _really like_ the coral. Seen the other versions of you in his head, and the coral is the most… homey."

The answering rumbling chuckle made the three of them grin. _I'll try, but no promises,_ she said rather teasingly. _To be honest, I prefer my natural form. Those so called 'desktop themes' that were used were either dull as paint, or so gaudy that my hydraulics leaked. I believe that would be an equivalent term to 'makes my eyes bleed'._

Chuckling lowly, which was overshadowed by Rose's cackling, Donna shook her head and led them over to one of the pool side tables. "Local sky please?" she requested, and the ceiling obliged itself to reflect the outside fading blue and appearing stars.

* * *

Frowning at her food, Gwen pushed the carton of Moo Goo Gai Pan away from her. The smell of it was off, and she pinched her nose shut while drinking her soda.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked, concerned by the slight shade of green that appeared.

"Think I need to lay off the Chinese for a while. Just the smell of it is starting to make me queasy as hell," she complained.

Nodding, John was in full agreement. "Yeah, hence the herbal tea here," he said, tipping the cup up in a 'cheers' motion.

"This is why I don't want to get pregnant." Martha muttered.

Looking over at John, Gwen grinned sympathetically. "What kind?"

Swirling his cup while looking at it, John smirked. "Mostly tisane and ptisan, but I added some honey and citrus to make it a bit more palatable." He held it out for her when she reached for it.

Taking a small test sip, Gwen tilted her head. "Not bad. Got any more?"

While John got up to fetch the tea service, the Doctor cracked his neck and looked at Jack. "So," he started amiably, "what's a weevil? Other than the herbivorous curculionidae beetle version, that is."

Finishing off the last bite of his egg roll, Jack stood up. "I'll show you," he said around his mouthful. Patting his lips with a napkin, he nodded at Gwen. "Going to go show him Janet."

"Have fun," she said with a shake of the head.

As they left the conference room, Jack could be heard saying, 'You just said weevil beetle.' The answering 'Wellll' made Gwen and Martha snort.

* * *

In the lower cell level, which reminded the Doctor of a dungeon, Jack led him into one of the many rows. He didn't even have the door closed before the Doctor was in his face. "That's a weevil?" he shouted, pointing to the cell that Janet resided in.

"Well, yeah," Jack said, completely confused. "They didn't know what else to call them, and the name stuck. Why?"

"Humans," the Doctor chastised. _'John, look into the Torchwood database and find everything you can about the weevils,'_ the Doctor sent to his brother. At John's general query of 'huh?', he sent him the visual of Janet in her cell.

Whatever other thoughts they would've had at that point were completely derailed, as they heard Donna swearing in a mental shout. What was most surprising about that, was that she outshone John in that aspect. Mainly, because they heard her say the word 'fuck' in forty two different languages, ending with a rather quiet 'merde'.

* * *

Donna looked over at Rose when she smelled something… not quite right. Impulsively, she nabbed the box of egg fu young out of her hands – _over Rose's protesting 'Oi' _– and peered into it. "Oh, that's disgusting," she murmured. Looking up at Rose's blushing face, she was appalled. "What. In. _The_. World…"

"It's good?" she shrugged. "Now give that back." She snatched her food and sat straighter in her seat, then briefly stuck her tongue out at her.

Jenny looked between them, totally confused. "What? What's wrong with it?"

"She has peanut butter in it!" Donna blurted. "With pickle relish!"

"Shu' up," Rose pouted around her mouthful. "Be the same way after a bit, so stop judgin'." She took that point to change the subject completely. Turning to Jenny, she ignored Donna. "So, what's up?"

Watching Rose fork out a slice of banana that was covered in a combination of peanut butter, pickle relish, and soy sauce, Jenny made a face. "That's just wrong, and I'm telling dad you're abusing his favourite food."

Ignoring their snickering, Jenny shook her head to clear it. "Okay." She inhaled a deep breath and let it out. "Wanted to talk about the whole 456 débâcle," she said to Donna. "You saved Ianto, Jack and I from an ambush in the hospital morgue. Still want to know how you made them all pass out," she mused.

Donna stopped eating at that point, and felt the tell tale signs of a both familiar and foreign instinct niggling in the back of her mind. "Jenny, don't," she whispered. Her left hand went to her stomach automatically.

Rose heard her whisper, but Jenny was distracted and went on with her ramble. "I mean, it was a blue flash that had to do something with their neurochemical state to induce unconsciousness, but it wasn't like a beam or sonic screw…" she trailed off and snapped her fingers. "Sonic grenade! That would've done it," she smiled, satisfied with herself. The smile faded when she saw Donna's wide eyes. "What is it?"

Donna flinched and felt that timeline thwack into place rather suddenly. Her head tilted to the side with a rather pained look on her face. "Oh, Jenny…" She stood up from the table and turned away from them, while holding her stomach. "Nooo," she quietly complained.

Standing up, Rose got her by the arm. "Donna?"

The soles of her feet started itching, and she leaned back and forth to stem it. It made her look like she wanted to either run off, or fight back the urge to go to the loo. "No, dammit," she argued with herself in a whisper. "I'm pregnant and can't go gallivanting off."

"Hey," Rose whispered, rubbing her back now. "What is it?"

They heard a shimmer, and Jenny said, "What's that doing here?"

They turned, and saw Jack's vortex manipulator sitting in the middle of the table. _Block Transfer version_, the ship said. _More reliable._ A small silver cylinder, which had a semi transparent band of blue around the middle of it, shimmered into existence right next to the manipulator.

"Shit," Donna mumbled. Putting her hands in her hair, she swore brilliantly and vividly both aloud and telepathically. Jenny and Rose had wide eyes on hearing forty two different versions of the word 'fuck'. Sighing, Donna ended that rant with a quiet, "Merde."

"What was that?" Rose asked not unkindly, but a bit forcefully. Seeing Donna place the strap on her wrist, she got the idea. "Oh, no you don't. You can wait on this."

"Time Lord, me," Donna said with a resigned look on her face. "If I know about a causality loop I will be personally involved in, I _have_ to do something about it."

"Wait," Rose protested. "We've done this before, and had a bit of a wait when," she was interrupted when Donna put a finger on her lips.

"Mum on that," Donna said quietly. "This is like stepping out of the TARDIS on a new planet. Ever wonder why we never just run back inside the moment we figure out what's going on?"

"Because it's wrong," Rose blurted, then she thought about it. "Established events?" Donna nodded sadly at her.

"Oh!" Jenny blurted, standing up. "Oh, I'm sorry! This is my fault! It's just your clothes reminded me."

Donna started fiddling with the strap again. "Don't worry about it sweetie. Had to happen this way."

Jenny tilted her head. "At least it's a pie run."

"Cake run," Rose corrected absently.

The door to the pool room opened, and John came in completely worried. "Wha's the matter?"

"Name of the hospital?" Donna asked.

Jenny eyed John coming over. "Cardiff General; in the basement on the first day; one thirty four in the afternoon."

Nodding, Donna pocketed the sonic grenade and turned around. "Sorry sweetie," she said to John. "Back in a few."

Seeing the open strap on her wrist, John's eyes widened. "What do you think you're doing?" Donna blew him a kiss and hit the final button, crackling out before he had a chance to stop her.


	9. 456 Fix

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Nine  
- 456 Fix -_

* * *

_**A/N:** Some of this will be familiar, the rest will be a further explanation of things. Have fun, you lot._

* * *

John's appallingly worried face dissolved, and Donna found herself in a broom cupboard of all things. The smell of cleaning products annoyed her nose quite a bit, and she made a face over it. She was about to open the door to see where she was, when the vortex manipulator gave a dual bleep.

Pressing the appropriate button, a blue rayed hologram of the TARDIS avatar leapt out of the strap. '_This is a recorded message. You are currently in the basement level of Cardiff General, and hopefully in a broom cupboard.' _

The hologram changed to a blueprint of the entire building, then zoomed to the floor in question._ 'Outside, the hallway has a T junction. On the right is the morgue; on the left is the access to stairs and the service lift. The section you are in has the afore mentioned cupboard, along with the main boiler room. Maintenance staff should have already been cleared by the team that was sent in to plant a bomb in Jack's stomach. Since Ianto is a part of his team, he will be killed. Jenny is an unknown and will be given the same treatment.' _

"Not bloody likely," Donna glowered. Hearing her own voice was the point she realized that the message was a telepathic recording, and intended to speak with the TARDIS about that later.

_'You are up against a full squad of trained assassin types, so don't take this lightly. The grenade has a range of twenty meters, so be sure you're behind some cover when it goes off, or you'll be out as well.'_ The hologram changed again to reflect the local time. _'You have five minutes. Wait till you hear a scuffle, then press the button and toss the grenade when you hear Jack's yell. Good luck.'_

There was a pause, then a last bit of advice. _'Reminding you that no one knows you're Donna. Respond to River.'_

"I know," she said with a sigh. Donna closed the strap cover when the message ended, and set about to wait. Listening at the door, she could only hear the waft of the air conditioning and the soft rumble of the boiler in the distance. Being as quiet as possible, she turned the knob and lifted up on it to quell whatever squeaking that might've happened with the hinges, then peeked out into the hall to get her bearings.

The short wait seemed to stretch, and it was making her nervous. Distracting herself, she pulled a lock of her hair out straight to give it the once over. She was surprised that she still missed her ginger. Her memories from the Doctor made it plain that the new incarnation had a bit of settling in time, then accepted the new changes. She hadn't. Might have something to do with the fact that she still felt human for the most part, though.

She was idly considering spending time in a salon to get her hair lightened, when she came to another realization. John hadn't regenerated in this time yet. Oddly enough, even though his new/old face and body were more attractive, she couldn't help remembering their first time together in the console room and bit her lip, remembering. Her musings were cut short when she heard footsteps.

Donna switched to her bypass and listened to the doings beyond the door. Distantly, she heard some bloke she didn't recognize going on about some patient named Chow, then tensed when she heard Jenny's soft giggle. Looking down, she found that she had the grenade in her hand already and didn't remember going after it. Giving both ends the once over, she saw a round black button that was flush against the alloy.

Flipping the grenade over in her hand, she put her thumb on it. She had to roll her eyes though when she heard the boiler room door open. Mainly, it was because that even though the squad was trying to be quiet, she could hear the scuffling of boots quite plainly.

Waiting till the last of them were past the door, she turned the knob and lifted, pushing it open again. Not bothering to close it properly, she knelt down and counted six of them. Her brow arched when she saw an auburn haired woman call a halt with her hand raised, then saw her check around the corner.

There was some sort of commotion, and she heard Jack shout, 'What the hell?' Pressing the button, Donna rolled the grenade down the hall, then felt something hard go against the back of her head. Spinning with a duck, her right arm came up to push a rifle away, then grabbed the belt of the seventh – rather surprised – member of the squad. Rolling backwards, her left foot caught the man in the groin as she tossed him after the grenade.

Donna barely got into the cupboard again with the door closed, when there was a blue flash coming from under the door… along with a strange sounding pop. Coming out again, she grinned at the sight of them all laid out. She was going to hit her strap, but then remembered the message saying to answer to River. She was down the hall before she realized she'd been running.

Pushing through a plastic partition with a satisfied smirk on her face, she saw two men on the floor with Jenny somewhat over the both of them. Behind her was Ianto and that still disgustingly attractive Harkness. A stray thought went through her head, wondering why the word 'disgustingly' went in front of 'attractive' rather automatically. Sure, he was gorgeous, but seeing him and knowing that Jenny was going to bond with the man, set her in a strange form of 'motherly instinct' over the whole thing.

Jenny cut off that thought. She had an arm behind her to ward off the boys while she stared at Donna. "Aunt River? What's going on?"

Smiling wide, Donna was actually having fun with this. "Hello, sweetie." Pulling her into a hug, she explained matter of factly. "You told me about this moment, so I had little choice but to come now."

Jack interrupted their hug with a simple, "Is that mine?"

Seeing where he was looking, she glanced at the strap on her arm and nodded. "On loan." Cringing inwardly, she thought _lie one, damn it all._ "Don't worry. I'll give it back once I go home." _Lie two._ She turned to Jenny. "The woman out there is the one in charge of this mess. You have my blessings to rummage around her head to figure out who's pulling her strings. Go now."

When Jenny was in the hall, Donna turned to Jack. Seeing him like this made her frown sadly. She knew it really wasn't his fault from how everything had been explained. "I have to apologize. This will be a bit of a shock, but own up to it. This whole scenario involves the 456."

Just seeing the fear descend over his face, made Donna even more regretful. Still, she turned to Ianto. "Get the keys and drive them back to the hub once Jenny's done. I have to go now." She flipped the strap open and hit some keys. Thinking about John, she changed the destination without thinking about it. Jenny came back in with a hard look on her face. "Bye sweetie. Be careful."

"Oh, I'm all over this, Auntie. Don't you worry," Jenny stated flatly. She gave Donna a kiss on the cheek and hugged her tight. "I love you Donna," Jenny whispered in her ear, before stepping back.

She looked at her in shock. "How did you?" she started to ask, but Jenny shook her head. Her knowing smile had her marvelling over the girl. Shaking her head, she had a terrible thought about where trips like this were heading. "Right. I have a date with The Library. Not looking forward to it, but it has to be done."

"You were brilliant," Jenny grinned. "See you after."

Donna's shoulders relaxed of their own accord as relief swept through her. Up until this point, she thought she was headed for death. Thinking about that, she wagged her finger at her. "No spoilers now," she said with a wink. "Love you." She held her arm up and keyed the last button on the sequence.

* * *

The basement dissolved around her, and she found herself on the roof of the Cardiff Millennium Centre. Free to express herself, Donna twirled in place while she laughed rather joyfully. "I'm going to live!" she shouted to the sky. Letting herself down, she lay on her back and just stared at the endless expanse of blue with a huge grin on her face.

She was like that for a while, unconsciously rubbing her tummy and coming to terms with being pregnant. Was it a boy? A girl? _No, boy, you dippy git._ She had to giggle at herself when she had the idea of the baby having John's ears with her hair, then shook herself. Whomever the little one turned out to be, they were going to be gorgeous no matter what, dammit.

A car door slam broke her chain of thought, and she heard either John or the Doctor apologizing. Standing up, she looked out to see that it was John in his grey suit. Seeing Martha and Gwen coming out of the car, she remembered hearing about how that man in the mental ward actually smelled Gwen's pregnancy.

Shaking out of that, she saw John sprinting towards the main entrance of the hub and grinned. It was strange, the mix of emotions she had on seeing him in his old body, and she fought the urge to see him. Surprised at herself, she actually wanted to snog that face again. Rolling her eyes at that impossible thought, Donna flipped the strap open and set the return trip.

* * *

Finding herself in the TARDIS pool room again, she saw that she was in the exact same spot she left from. John was half a step closer, with shock written all over his face.

"Donna?" John said again, then closed the distance to hug her tight. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he said again.

Patting his back, she pulled back out of the hug a bit, then snogged his face off. All of his protests died with that, but the bitter sigh behind her made her cut it short. "Just took care of things, is all." Coming to herself, she blanched. "Oh shit. I forgot the grenade!"

"You mean this one?" Jenny said, pulling it out of her jacket pocket. "Found it in the basement of the hospital after you left. Kept it safe."

Turning her head, she saw Jenny holding it with a smirk on her face. "And _you_, you little shit. You knew what was going on the whole time!" she accused. "You knew me?"

"Of course I did," Jenny said with a hint of smugness. "But, I can't tell you about it or you'll be off again."

"You zip it," John snapped, pointing at her, before turning back to Donna. "Damn near gave me a hearts attack, seeing you use the space hopper. Where was this?"

"Cardiff General," Donna explained patiently. "Had to help her, Jack, and Ianto take care of a squad of goons."

"What?" John said. "I didn't know about that. You … Why didn't you come visit me?"

"Didn't think it was a good idea," Donna said, then nuzzled her head under his chin. "Jack and Jenny weren't bonded yet, and I didn't want to screw that up."

"She has a point," Rose said, not looking at them.


	10. Tears and Empathy

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Ten  
- Tears and Empathy -_

* * *

_**A/N:** Short chapter this time, sorry._

* * *

Staring at the Doctor behaving like this was something that Jack wasn't sure how to deal with. Other than the fact that he liked staring at the man, which was starting to feel more and more weird as time went on, it was the way that he was currently kneeling down with a hand on the plexiplate glass that had him unsettled. That wasn't it either, but the fact that Janet was doing the _same exact thing_? That's what had his hackles up.

He couldn't do anything except gape stupidly at what they were doing. Janet wasn't even snarling, which was confusing as hell. Instead, she had a hand on the glass – on the opposite side. If the glass wasn't there, her left hand would have been pressed up against the Doctor's right.

As it was, it looked like the two were having some sort of communication. It wasn't telepathic, exactly, but it was damned unsettling to the ex time agent. He was startled when they both slowly stood. Unlike her normal hunched stance, however, Janet had her back straight. Their hands moved in tandem, until their fingertips touched through one of the holes in the glass.

"How long has it been, hmm?" the Doctor mused aloud. A strange mewling answered him, with a bit of chitter and, of all things, a hiccup. "That's a terribly long time," the Doctor seemed to answer. "And the lot of you just ran, did you?" Some more murmuring, and the Doctor nodded absently. "Yes, I know. Thick lot, humans. Any chance some bulls got through with you?"

Janet looked like she sneezed, and the Doctor broke their fingertip contact when he backed up. "Right, sorry. Personal. Got it. I'll do my best though. Promise."

Jack's eyes went wide when Janet actually nodded at him, then went back to her normal crouched position. "Wh… what was that all about?"

"Empathic species, the Scorx," the Doctor mused. "She's quite fond of you, by the way, not like any other female isn't, but she bears no ill will towards you. You've been taking right care of her." He turned his head to pop a quick glare at Jack. "Still, she's a bit miffed that you lot seem to like to pop bits of lead at them, not that it actually hurts them much. Stings like the devil, but still. One thing she's curious about, is where you got a hold of Hennock root. They hate it, and you seem to spray bits of it at them when they get hungry."

Standing there with the typical 'dribbling on the shirt' expression, Jack was looking back and forth between them. "Uhh… what?"

Sighing with a roll of the eyes, the Doctor glanced at Janet. "We'll be back." Turning back to Jack, he took him by the arm and led him out of the cell level. "Human brain," he muttered. "Need to fix that."

Jack just let himself be led, and stared at him in complete confusion as to what he was talking about. He wasn't sure, but there was every possibility that his shirt was starting to become soaked with dribble at this point.

* * *

The sound of the rolling door opening got Mickey's attention, and he stood as Celeste led Sylvia into the hub. He would've objected, but was cut off. "Ah yes, there you are. Be a good lad and see if Ianto has some refreshments on standby, would you please? There's a good boy."

Not knowing if he was being placated, overrun, or condescended to, Mickey simply blinked once and set about searching for Ianto with a simple "Yes, ma'am." One thing was definite, the Doctor got that gob honestly. And, as so far as distractions go, he found that she was a damn sight better at it that he was. This of course, he found out about a minute later as he heard the TARDIS door open and shut behind him.

He was standing there with his mouth hanging open when the Doctor led Jack into the room by his elbow. An annoying repetitious clicking in his face got his attention.

"Hello, Earth to Mickey," the Doctor said. "Why are you staring at my TARDIS like it just did a tango or something?"

"Celeste just brought Mrs. Noble in, and took her in there," he said rather stupefyingly. "Can see where you get it though, Boss. She just breezed in and through, with me tripping over myself."

Snickering, the Doctor was all grins. "Ah, yes. Mum always had a way of, _well_, getting her way. Don't feel too bad about it. She's tongue tied dignitaries who have doctorates in the art of the filibuster."

Jack tilted his head. "So _that's_ where you got it from."

The Doctor turned to give him an appraising look. "You think that's bad, you should hear the two of us argue."

"You mean her overrunning your backpedalling protests?" Jack smirked.

"Hush," the Doctor scowled. "At any rate, and I'm _loathe_ to admit it, I'm actually glad she was able to get Sylvia over here."

* * *

At the door to the pool room, Celeste had an arm around Sylvia's shoulders. Looking in, she sent a thread of thought into the room. _'Rose, Jennifer, give us a moment if you please.'_ She nodded when they both looked up from the table. _'You as well, John.'_

_'I think it might be better if I were close by for this one, if you don't mind,'_ John answered. While Jenny and Rose stood, taking their food with them, John reached over to take his wife's hand. "Donna? Comp'ny," he said quietly.

Blinking, Donna sat straighter in her seat and simply stared at the wall. She could see Celeste and her mother with her peripheral vision, and bit her lip in apprehension. Unwilling to look in their direction, she turned her head so they slipped out of her line of sight completely. Instead, she looked a bit fearfully into John's eyes. _'Don't make me do this.'_

John held her gaze with quiet understanding, and she inwardly cringed when she heard the echoing footsteps coming closer. It was ridiculously simple in determining everyone's gate as they walked. Panicking a little, Donna reached out to Rose with her mind. '_Stay? Please?'_ she asked in a small voice.

_'We're at the door,'_ Rose answered. _'Just shout and we'll be there.'_

Donna actually jumped when her mother put a hand on her shoulder. If that wasn't enough, she heard something she never dreamed to hear. "I'm sorry."

Seeing this new Donna turn to look at her with large eyes and twin trails of tears on her cheeks, Sylvia felt more than a little guilty. In fact, she felt quite tiny over making her daughter cry. A small sound came out of her throat, and she bent down to hug her.

The chair made a slight screech on the floor, as Donna stood up like a shot and wrapped her arms around her mother. She couldn't say anything and simply held her, shaking.

"I'm so sorry," Sylvia mumbled into her shoulder. "You're always so headstrong, and I don't know what… All this alien stuff; you looking so different; why would you even need me any more?" she whined.

"You're my mum!" Donna shouted. "I don't care _what_ I look like, you're _always_ going to be my mum!"

Pulling back a bit, Sylvia wiggled a finger in her ear. "I think that proves you're still my daughter. Think I'm deaf," she said with a wince.

They shared watery smiles with each other over that, and hugged again. John stood back with a huge grin on his face, with his arms crossed. Glancing over to Celeste, he mouthed 'thank you'.

Watching all of that from the door, Jenny's smile dropped and she snapped a glance at Rose when she felt a pang coming from her. Sidestepping closer, she put an arm around her. "You okay mum?"

Rose flashed a brief and very fake smile at her. "Will be. I'll … just … 'scuse me." Turning, she went down the corridor at a brisk pace, leaving a slightly confused Jenny just staring at her retreat.


	11. Snap

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Eleven  
- Snap -_

* * *

Jack, Gwen, and the Doctor were in Jack's office, going over things about the weevils in general. Jack was so caught up with the subject that he overlooked something rather important: The Doctor, coffee, and forgetting to block Ianto from giving him more than a single cup of the caffeinated beverage. The Doctor was on his third cup when Ianto finally settled in to listen to the lecture.

"Right! Now then. Sycorax; asteroid come spaceship hovering over London; and people standing on roofs the world over. They first came across interstellar travel by complete chance, as a derelict craft came within their asteroid cluster. Scavenging it, they developed their own methods of transforming the smaller asteroid hives into spaceships. First thing they do – and this is a very Star Trek example of how bad giving advanced technology to lesser evolved species can be – they go to the next star system and immediately go about conquering it. Wasn't like they had much resistance at all, no. The first species alien to their culture, other than that first derelict craft that is, was a race of empaths."

It was at this point in the rapid verbal torrent of information, that Jack kicked himself and gave Ianto a death stare. Unfortunately, he either didn't notice or ignored him.

"These empaths have no actual spoken language, and they were more than a bit primitive, even by the current Earth standards – which would be somewhere between the copper and bronze ages. Omnivores, they can subsist on most anything, if there's enough protein and carbohydrates involved that is. And, they actually need carbs more so than your average human for their trilateral back lobes of their rather large in comparison brains – for their empathic abilities, you see."

The pause for breath was taken advantage of. "Doctor, no more coffee," Jack said.

"Oh, I'm just getting started," the Doctor said quietly, waving a hand dismissively at him. He then turned and started pacing the office as his gob ran amok. "Annnnyway, this first species they subjugated didn't have a name for themselves, other than 'the people' in a roundabout fashion, and they ended up calling them the Scorx. Sort of a bit of humour on their part, as the word literally means 'non person'. Stupid, that. At any rate, what little I gleaned from the one you call Janet, was that their planet is a complete ruin. The ones that were left behind from the enslavement, some twenty thousand individuals from out of a touch over a million souls, had to fend for themselves after the Sycorax plundered everything valuable. Minerals mostly, but they ended up polluting the planet from their mining endeavours, beyond what was feasible for it to recover naturally for seven hundred and some odd years."

He paused mid step and mid rant. Facing the back of Jack's office while standing in between the couch and the desk, his head tilted. "That could work. No… Yes! Nooo."

"Doc! Unpack!" Jack scolded rather loudly.

Turning to look in his general direction, the Doctor's eyes were darting all over the place. "Well, we _could_ gather up Janet and her people to take them back…" His voice trailed off when he felt Rose's emotional pain, just before their connection was squeezed down to just a trickle of presence between them. Turning abruptly, he left the office at a full bolt to the TARDIS.

"Doc?" Jack prodded. "Doctor!" Sensing Jenny's confusion over his own, he sent out a thought to her. _'Sweetheart, what's going on?'_

_'Mum's upset, but she wont say what about,' _Jenny thought back.

_'Do you need me?'_ he asked.

_'Don't think so. Oh! Damn dad, run me over why don't you?'_ she griped. _'Oh sure, blame me. Hold on.'_

"Jack?" Gwen asked. Seeing his expressions changing like they were, she assumed they were all talking in their heads. "What's going on?"

Jack held a hand up. "Rose is upset," he explained. "Bit of commotion in there. No idea…" Whatever else he might have said was completely interrupted when it felt like the entire world just cracked around him.

Gwen stood up to see about Rose, when Jack stiffened in his seat with a huge inhale; his head snapping to the right; and passed out in a dead faint. "Jack!" she and Ianto shouted, rushing behind his desk when he fell out of his chair.

* * *

Jenny was standing at the door to her parents room, knocking. "Mum? What's wrong?"

"I'm all right, just need some time alone swee'hear'," Rose's muffled voice came from behind the door. "Just… let me be for a bit. Please?"

"All right? Uhm… okay." The Doctor came running up at that point, and knocked her sideways a bit as he went for the door. "Blimey! Knock me over why don't you?"

An absent minded 'sorry' came out of his mouth. When he couldn't open the door, the Doctor was more than a bit shocked. "Locked? Why's the door locked?" He turned a scowl at his daughter. "Did you lock it?"

"How the hell would I lock it from the outside?" she huffed at him petulantly. "Mum needs some time alone."

"Sod that!" he shouted. "Rose? Let me in!" Not getting a response, he fished his sonic out and tripped the door.

Blinking at the suddenness of his appearance and disappearance, Jenny just shook her head. Walking back towards the pool room, she stiffened when she felt a time line snap into place rather abruptly. Her mouth then fell open at the feeling of it.

* * *

Celeste sat at the table, ready to jump into the middle of things if the situation went pear shaped. Still though, she had a soft smile on her face while listening to mother and daughter talk somewhat reasonably. John had a half smirk on his cringing face just listening.

"So," Sylvia began. "Pregnant?" At Donna's nod, she turned to John. "And you're the father?" When he nodded, she picked up Donna's left hand by the ring finger. "And when is this going to happen, hmm?"

"Technically, we already did," John said.

Before he had a chance to say anything else, Sylvia was up in arms. "What? You got married without telling me?" she glared at Donna accusingly. "When the hell were you going to give a mention? Bad enough everything else is going on, but it would've been nice to at least attend my own daughter's wedding!"

Donna gave a throaty chuckle when John turned away from them. "Are you _sure_ you wanted to be included with that, mum? Wasn't exactly something that involved a lot of guests. We're married in the ways of his people, and it's a completely private affair."

"That's not exactly true," Celeste said with a smirk, "and you know it. That part is supposed to come _after_ the ceremony."

"I'm not sure we were actually thinking all that clearly at the time, mum," John said sheepishly. "And, Donna's right Sylvia. You _really_ don't want to know about that."

Sylvia simply crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Set that on the back burner for a minute, mum," Donna said. "We _are_ going to have a proper wedding, so relax about that. Haven't properly planned anything, but I don't think my old friends would want to come to a wedding of a couple of apparent strangers. To be perfectly honest, even if they did, there's not many worth the trouble except you and grandad. Never really got on with the others, especially Nerise."

"Never liked her much anyway," Sylvia agreed. "Too snippy and condescending for my taste."

"Pot, Kettle, much?" John said with a one eyed squint.

The expected glare was matched by John's cheesy grin. "Don't even start," he said slowly. "One thing you should know, while Donna got all of the Doctor's memories – I got all of hers. So, I _do_ know what I'm talking about. Sorry, but I have a bit of an unfair advantage."

"Behave," Celeste chided quietly.

John shook his head. "Nope, don't think I will. If we're going to have any sort of relationship with each other, Sylvia, we need to air things out and start fresh. One thing I do know for sure, Donna was brilliant _before_ the metacrisis, but it took a lot of convincing to get her to believe it. Seeing both sides of those conversations, I can honestly tell you what was ringing louder in her head, more than anything else, was the echo of your constant berating of her abilities and decisions. The one thing she always said was, 'I'm a temp, from Chiswick,' like it was something to be looked down upon. Where did she get _that_ idea, Sylvia?"

Blinking from the verbal assault, Sylvia looked over at her daughter and saw how she was staring at the table. "Is that true?"

Inhaling a huge breath, Donna looked up to the ceiling to let it out before speaking. "Yes, mum. He's absolutely correct, and I'm sorry if that hurts. Truth is, even though I know you had good intentions, the way you went about it wasn't very good for me. Why else would I run off with a madman in a box in the first place? Lance took advantage of me; you hated everything I did; so I thought it'd be a good idea to get away." Looking at her mother with a sad smile, she reached over and took her hand. "I wouldn't be who I am without you, but OH!"

Donna's hands slapped to her stomach in what looked like shock, while Celeste and John popped up straighter in their chairs. A huge beaming smile came out of her as she stared down at her stomach in complete surprise. "Bloody. Hell. You sure know how to grab attention, don't you little man?"

Looking up at John, who was sporting the hugest smile she ever saw on him yet, Donna tittered a giggle as he wrapped his arms around her in pure delight.

"What was that? Are you all right? What's going on?" Sylvia stammered.

Celeste put a hand over Sylvia's and explained. "We're telepathic, my dear. Our grandson's brain is just developed enough to cry out for the first time. There's more involved with it, but that would take a rather long time to explain."

Donna looked over at her mother. "Do you want to hear?"

"How?" she asked, completely confused.

Reaching over to cup her mother's cheek briefly with a smile, Donna slid her hand up to touch the contact point at her temple. Sylvia's mouth dropped open at the sound she was hearing, and her eyes began filling with tears.

"Sounds like crying," Sylvia whispered, completely awestruck. Then her face twisted in confusion. "What was that?"

"His name," Donna and John said together. "Oh that's beautiful," they said.

"Means 'Peace of the Cosmos', or 'Cosmic Peace' – depending on how you look at it," John said with wonder.

Donna translated and had a huge beam on her face. "Geoffrey," she sighed. "Mum, do you mind if we name him after dad?"

Sylvia was wiping her eyes and shook her head. "That would be lovely," she whispered.

Breaking contact with her mother, Donna's hand drifted to her stomach. "Geoffrey John Noble," she whispered. "Welcome to the universe."

"Noble?" Sylvia looked confused. "Not taking his last name?"

"You wouldn't want it," John said with a chuckle.

Celeste looked affronted. "And what's wrong with it?"

John gave her a placating smile. "Doesn't translate all that well into English, mum. Sounds like a disease or somethin'."

Frowning, Celeste conceded the point just as Jenny made her appearance at the door. Looking over at her, she became instantly concerned with the way she was looking at Donna. "What's wrong, darling?"

Gaping at Donna, Jenny saw the knot of time in her belly and recognized it instantly. "Oh… that… Holy _shit_," she whispered. Reaching out with her mind, she realized that Jack was unconscious. Eyes widening at that, she turned and ran out of the TARDIS. She passed Romana on her way out, who looked delighted at first, then confused from the look of panic on Jenny's face.


	12. Wibbly Wobbly

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Twelve  
- Wibbly Wobbly -_

* * *

Running through the corridors of the TARDIS, Romana caught up with Jenny and got a hold of her hand. "What's wrong?" Instead of stopping her though, she was pulled along behind her. If anything, she reminded her of the Doctor quite plainly at that point, and relished the memories of running with Jenny's father.

"Jack's unconscious!" Jenny shouted over her shoulder. "John and Donna's baby… I think… No, I _know_ that timeline. It's Jack's!"

They turned a corner, and Romana had her eyes wide open in shock. "Are you absolutely certain?" she asked in a high pitch. Just the thought of that wasn't something she was prepared to deal with just yet. There were so many _other_ things that demanded her attention from their compartmentalized mental boxes.

Jenny glanced over her shoulder at her as they ran. "Yes. He's got a block in his head a mile wide. The TARDIS told me to not bother with it until the time came. There's the chameleon arch, and I don't know about you – but if his infant timeline can knock Jack out, then I bet it's time!"

They came into and through the console room at a full pelt. Skirting around the console, they saw both of the TARDIS doors open on their own. Jenny didn't even pause as they exited. Pivoting on her right toe as soon as it hit the floor outside the ship, she turned and went straight for Jack's office.

Gwen and Ianto had just put Jack on the couch that was in front of his desk, when they heard Jenny repeating Jack's name over and over, getting louder as she barrelled into the room.

"Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, JACK!" Jenny let go of Romana's hand when she entered the room, and nimbly jumped over Gwen's kneeling form. Landing next to Jack's head at the couch, she palmed both sides of his face. "I'm _here_, love," she said loudly in a panic as she dove into his mind.

Ianto stood up and backed away. Gwen almost had her hand on Jenny's back – with her name on her lips – when she felt a hand on her own shoulder. Looking back, she saw an expression of pure astonishment on Romana's face. "What's happening to him?"

"I'm not exactly sure I should tell you," Romana said a bit breathlessly. "I _can_ say that the timeline of John and Donna's child just abruptly announced itself." Hearing a swift inhale, she noticed that Ianto was biting his lower lip with wide eyes. "You _know_, don't you?" she stated rather than asked.

Ianto blanched slightly, then tried to mask it by putting his hands behind his back with a cool exterior. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said a bit too quickly.

Romana was going to say something, but Gwen whipped her head around to stare at him. "That was worse than Rose. _What_ do you know?" she said accusingly.

Closing his eyes, Ianto inhaled deeply. "I'm sworn to secrecy. Please don't ask, because I _can't_ tell you."

Romana nodded slowly with a slight grin on her lips. "John and Donna found out in front of you; something they can't know about just yet; then asked you to hold their secret. Am I close?" Catching the slight widening of his eyes, she smirked. "Oh, I'm good. They're his parents, aren't they?"

That caught Ianto completely off guard. "How in the hell did you know that?" he shouted.

"You just told me," she said with a touch of smugness.

Gwen nearly gave herself whiplash. Standing, she spun her head around to openly gape at her. "What? Are you _serious_? How the hell is that even possible?"

* * *

"Rose?" the Doctor called out. Their bedroom was empty, and he went to the lavatory door. "Rose, please talk to me. If I can't leave you behind or shut you out, then _please_ don't do it to me. What you're doing with the link actually _hurts_."

He felt their bond open suddenly, and her mortification over that was readily apparent as the door opened. Just seeing the look on her face, not to mention the abundance of tears, caused him to embrace her tightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," she said into his shoulder. "I just didn't want to bother anyone with this, _especially_ you," she said rather rapidly.

Standing there, the Doctor felt and saw what had her in such a state quite plainly. While he knew that she missed Jackie, this was much more acute and painful. Sylvia's reconciliation with Donna pointed sharply to the fact that Rose was going through her pregnancy without her mother. Closing his eyes, he nodded and kissed the side of her forehead, then led them to the bed. Sitting them both down, Rose lost her composure and started sobbing.

_'Hormones, I _Hate_ Hormones!'_ she shouted in his head. _'I'm So Sorry!'_

Rocking her, the Doctor soothed her with reassuring and loving emotions. "It's all right, my hearts. It appears I can't take all of it, and I apologize for that. I wish there was a way. We have enough people now, but no power source strong enough. I'll get to work on that as soon as possible, I promise."

Rose just nodded mutely into his shoulder and drenched it with tears.

* * *

John, Donna and Celeste looked up when they heard Rose's mental shout.

_'Rose? What's happening?' _John asked.

Donna reached out as well. _'Sweetie, what's wrong?'_

They heard Romana next, _'Rose? Doctor?'_

Celeste just nodded. _'It's all right, my dear. What you're feeling is completely normal. Would you like me to come sit with you, Rose?'_ Hearing her non-verbal assent to that, with more than a bit of pleading to it, she stood up. "Excuse me, please. My other daughter in law needs me just now."

Sylvia was confused when the three others at the table lifted their heads. Celeste's announcement mollified her curiosity a bit, but she took Donna's hand anyway. "What's going on?"

Donna smiled sadly. "Think Rose has hit the 'even birds and asphalt make me cry' bit of her pregnancy." She looked at her mother, then clarified things for her. "We're all telepathic like Celeste mentioned, and we heard Rose having her – for the lack of a better description – fit."

Blinking at that, Sylvia was still confused. "Mind control?" she asked with a bit of alarm in her voice.

John snorted and shot his eyes skyward. "Trust _you_ to think that." Looking back at her, he shook his head with some disgust on his face. "No," he stated flatly.

Donna was just as ill humoured and clucked at her mother, before she went into a rather lengthy and detailed description of how telepathy actually worked. It was ironic how something so beautiful could be completely ruined by Sylvia's preconceptions over things. Nothing was ever simple with that woman.

* * *

"_Jack?" _Jenny called out into the misty grey expanse of his mind. It completely alarmed her that there was no sense of direction, including the normal approximation of up or down. Floating, she turned about and sensed the location of his core consciousness. Flying through the mist, she found his mental representation in a relaxed foetal position, completely unaware and drifting.

Turning him by his left arm to face her, she slipped between Jack's arms and held him close. _"Baby, wake up," _she whispered. _"I'm here."_

Jack's 'eyes' opened slightly, completely out of focus. _"Jen? Wha's goin' on?"_ he quietly slurred.

"_You're unconscious,"_ she whispered. _"Do you remember what happened?"_

"_Mother of all earthquakes,"_ he said as he closed his arms around her. _"Felt like an explosion or something. Is everybody all right? What happened?"_

"_They're fine,_" she soothed, rubbing his back. _"Remember when my brother announced himself at the dinner table?"_ she asked.

Jack nodded. _"Yeah. Not something I'm going to forget any time soon. Was like someone rang my brain with a hammer."_

"_That was his timeline,"_ she said quietly._ "My cousin just did the same thing."_

Smirking a bit, Jack felt more coherent. _"Must be some kid to knock me out like that."_

Jenny grinned and bit her lip. She wasn't sure she should tell him or not. Might be too much of a shock, given his state. Instead she set about pulling him out of it. _"C'mon, swee'hear', let's get you out of this. Gwen and Ianto are beside themselves, and you're on the couch in your office."_

"_Can't we stay here for a while?"_ he complained. _"Kinda like floating with you like this."_

She squeezed him and chuckled. _"While this _is_ fun, my actual knees are starting to hate the floor. Haven't you heard of carpets?"_ she chastised.

* * *

When they materialized, Geoff had to catch Susan as she bent over to empty her stomach again. "Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry," he mumbled while she had at it. "I know it was too soon, but I didn't have a choice."

Geoff was completely startled when another set of hands came into his vision. One of them had a wet flannel that went to Susan's forehead, while the other simply patted her back. Looking up, he could tell they were in the same location – possibly the same time period. He grinned when he saw who was helping them. "Thanks. Hiya, Uncle Jack."

Jack looked at his younger self and smirked. "Hello Jackass." Just seeing the look of shock go over Geoff's face was enough to make him chuckle. Honestly though, he really didn't need to see it. He knew what that felt like to have his own code-phrase thrown at him. It was a simple two words, sure, but left no doubt that he was meeting himself and not an imposter. "Give her the Pepto," he prompted.

Blinking, Geoff pulled the bottle from his coat pocket. It was odd how Jack reached over to unscrew the cap like that, and then things started to make an unbelievable amount of sense. His head spun from the ramnifications.

"Puts the question of the mirror to rest, doesn't it?" Jack said, giving him a wry grin. The flush that went over Geoff's face was priceless, remembering his own questions as to who his real father was. Still smirking, he bent down to Susan, who was almost guzzling the pink bottle. "How you feeling, sweetheart?"

"Dad?" Susan whispered, looking up at him with wide eyes. He felt _right_ to her now, and she slumped into his side, completely relieved. She would've jumped into his arms, but her stomach just wasn't having it at the moment.

Geoff baulked. "Oh, that's just not right," he said quietly.

Grinning, Jack nodded and held Susan close. "Hi, baby."

"H'long?" she mumbled.

Jack had his face in her hair, inhaling her scent and trying not to cry. "Four days," he whispered as he started rocking her side to side. "I didn't get to watch you grow up," he lamented in a quaky voice.

Geoff suddenly felt like an outsider and stepped back. Everything about this was wrong. The girl he thought of as a little sister was actually his _daughter_, and then there was the fact he couldn't sense Josh anywhere. When he stepped back, he could see Aunt Je… _Oh hell, is that my _wife_?_ His backpedalling stopped abruptly with that absurd thought. Looking about, he saw Josh's parents standing a bit away from them, and could feel their sadness overwhelming their hope. Guilt flooded him again over it, and he turned to see Romana standing steadfast.

"_Stop_ that!" He'd felt her before she opened her mouth, and couldn't help his grin when he heard her speak. "None of it was your fault." He turned around to face her. "Hello sweetie," she said with a smile, her arms wide open.

Geoff took three long strides and caught Donna up in a hug. "Mom!" _Lord she's short_, he thought. "I think you shrank a bit in the wash, there," he said cheekily. Looking over her head, he saw his father grinning at him sadly. _Sadly?_

"This part… is going to _really_ suck," John said flatly, as he put a hand on Geoff's shoulder. His face was welcoming, but grim all the same.

All of Geoff's elation died with that statement. Frowning, he stared right back at his father. "Explain."

"Do I really have to?" John asked, tilting his head towards Susan.

Looking back, he saw his future self and got it. _Boy_, did he get it. "Aw fuck," he mumbled.

"Language," Donna chastised with a smirk.

Blinking, Geoff looked at his mother, then his father, then his mother again. "You… have _got_… to be kidding me. This, from Mr. and Mrs. 'cut them with words till they bleed'? Where the hell d'you think _I_ got it from, Mars?"

Donna pursed her lips, then laughed as she hugged him again. "Oh shut it, Geoffrey." Burying her face in his shoulder, she bit back the tears that were starting. Nothing about this was fair, and she wanted to savour her time with her – _theoretically_ – innocent son as much as she could. He had so much more to do before he would become the man that was currently hugging her granddaughter.

Not bothering to separate them, John hugged them both and put his nose in Geoff's hair. "You have to go back, son," he said quietly.

Pulling one arm out from around his mother, Geoff held on to both of them. His shaking wasn't unnoticed, and they held him tighter. Fighting back his own tears, Geoff's voice was just as shaky as the rest of him. "I… I don't _want_ to go. It's been so _long_."

"You have to," he heard from behind him. "And you _know_ why."

Spinning out of his parents embrace, Geoff tried and failed to land a right cross. Jack had leaned back before the swing was even started, and it pissed Geoff off. "_Fuck_ you! Why the hell are you even here? This is _my_ time, goddammit!"

"Stay if you want," Jack said without any emotion to his voice. "Just be aware that if you do, Susan will be overwritten. I'm sorry, but you've got a bit more to do." That understatement weighed around them like an approaching gong from the Cloister Bell, and Geoff felt it like a slap in the face.

The litany of cursing that Geoff spat out wasn't something anyone wanted to listen to, much less read about. Suffice it to say that it involved the god of alcohol, several small mammals, a quantum singularity, and a supernova… followed by many different degrees of hatred over causality, Eris (the goddess of chaos), and Sod's Law.

Since his swearing was in Gallifreyan, it took him a full five minutes to get all the nuances correct. Even _John_ winced over it.

Making their way to him from either side, Rose and Jenny waited till he was finished with his rant, then hugged him. While he flinched from what he thought was an attack, Jenny surprised him when she grabbed his jaw and snogged him outright. _'Calm down,'_ she whispered in his mind. _'You have to go back. Please don't deny me you, or our daughter.'_

"You wont be alone, Geoff," Rose whispered, "I promise." When Jenny let up on him, Rose hugged him fully. "Your uncle and I will take care of you for a while. Once you've found your feet again, you are going to do _so much good_ in the world. You have _no_ idea how proud of you we are. It wont be easy, but you'll be a better person for it."

Leaning in to his ear, Rose whispered, "not to mention all the _outrageous_ sex you're going to have," she said cheekily. Geoff pulled back from them with wide eyes, and Rose put a finger to his lips. "Don't worry. Not me," she smirked and winked at him. "Not that you didn't _try_, though."

"Oh God. I'm not sure I want to know," Geoff said. "I'm sorry." Pausing, his brain caught up with what she said and got completely confused. "Wait, wouldn't I know better?"

"No," Jenny said, getting his attention. "But that's all right. Just know that I'll be waiting for you." Pushing Rose out of the way, Jenny embraced him fully, and snogged the fight right out of him. _'You _have_ to go back,'_ she thought to him. _'It will make sense when you get there, and from your point of view, hardly any time will have passed.'_ It was a lie, sure, but it was necessary. Didn't mean she didn't hate it though.

_'Is this why I could hear you so plainly in my head? The thoughts I…'_ he paused, suddenly and _completely_ embarrassed at what he was thinking at that point.

Breaking the kiss with a giggle, Jenny nodded. "Yup," she said, popping the word.

"Uh… coordinates?" Geoff asked, changing the subject rather lamely.

Jack smirked at him. "Last place you were, more or less." While Jenny flipped Geoff's strap open to double check, Jack got in front of him. "Even though I know you're going to anyway, _try_ not to worry. Just remember that everything you will do, I did, and it's perfectly all right."

Blinking at that, Geoff looked at his manipulator when Jenny finished inputting the coordinates. His head was spinning so hard, that he didn't realize who was hugging him until he heard his mother speak.

"_You_, young man, are brilliant; will be brilliant; and always have been brilliant." Smiling at him through her watery eyes, Donna reached up and ruffled Geoff's hair. "Not to mention completely _gorgeous_. Off with you now. I love you, son." Taking both sides of his head, she pulled him down to plant a kiss on his forehead, then stepped back.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Geoff pleaded.

Stepping forward, John pulled him into a bear hug. "No, and I'm sorry for that. If you don't, the universe will literally crack open. This paradox is closing, and you have to go. I am so _proud_ of you."

When John let up, Geoff stepped back. Wiping his eyes, he looked over to Susan. She was currently being hugged by the Doctor, and was staring Geoff in the eye. Unable to get the words out, he thought to her instead. _'I love you, Keesha. Be brilliant.' _

Before anyone could say anything else, Geoff looked up to the sky and thundered angrily – both aloud and with unshielded telepathy. _"I HATE CAUSALITY LOOPS!"_ then smacked the activation button on his manipulator, crackling backwards in time.


	13. I'm what?

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Thirteen  
- I'm what? -_

* * *

_**A/N:** This chapter was written while listening to '_The Dream is Collapsing' _and_ 'Time'_ by Hans Zimmer.  
_

* * *

The commotion that Jenny made in running to Jack didn't go unnoticed. Martha and Mickey, both confused and concerned, were nearly to the stairs to Jack's office when a crackle and a flash of light had them turn around. The Hub's alarm blared, then quit just as suddenly. This was followed by a rather huge and booming swear.

As soon as Geoff materialized, his hand automatically smacked his vortex manipulator to kill the alarm. His fists clenched and rose to his chest, vibrating. Completely overwhelmed by everything, his voice carried everywhere with a loud and resounding, "FUCK!"

While Martha and Mickey were stunned by seeing Jack where he wasn't supposed to be, Romana stuck her head out of the office with wide eyes. She really didn't like hearing that type of verbiage, and yelled at him over it. "_Language_, young man!"

Geoff's head snapped over to her in shock. "Sorry, I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Blinking, Martha baulked at the sight of Jack cowing to anything, especially being reprimanded about his foul mouth. "That… _What_?" she squeaked. Shaking her head rapidly, she managed to speak coherently. "Jack?" she pointed to the office, "You're up there," she pointed at him, "and standing there. And that's _BAD_!" she shouted.

It wasn't eloquent at all, but she got the point across at least. Conversely, Mickey was too stunned for anything except just standing there, gaping like a fish.

Pushing her way past Romana, Gwen gave a wide-eyed blink, then stepped slowly down and over to Geoff. "This has to be _really_ important for your to do something like this," she said quietly. Giving him the once over, she noticed that his hair was shorter and almost military looking. He was dressed in a close fitting black leather jacket and some sort of trousers that she couldn't identify off hand. The quasi army looking boots finished off the bizarre look. And, the fact that he actually looked younger than Ianto was the icing on the cake, there.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," Geoff whispered. He wiped tears out of his eyes angrily with his left hand.

"_What_… is going on?" Mickey finally blurted. "You look like you did when I first met you. Pop a 'whatever' gesture out, and it'll be _perfect_!" he shouted while holding his index finger and thumb from both hands out in the shape of a 'W'.

Seeing this younger Jack fighting away some obvious tears, Gwen reached up and cupped his cheek. "Hey… _no_, no. C'mere." Pulling him into a hug was second nature to her. And, seeing him in such a state was so unusual, that it was even more necessary. "What's the story, then? Can you talk about it?"

"Don't know if I should. I…" he trailed off when he saw Jenny appear, probing his mind in a state of shock. "Yeah, hi. Bit rude there," he half complained.

Gwen let go of the hug when she saw Jenny, but didn't move away. Something about this had her being more protective than usual. Might have something to do with being full of pregnancy hormones, but Jack was a close friend and this version of him was vulnerable. She didn't like it.

Confused, confounded, and more than a bit astonished, Jenny only let up when she didn't find what she was searching for – something completely different and more _real_ was there instead. _Oh my. You're what's behind the wall, aren't you?_ she thought. Seeing him shrug, she furrowed her brow. "I didn't project that, how can you hear me?"

Geoff just shrugged again. "My head's still spinning. I dunno."

"_I_ do," Romana said, getting everyone's attention. Looking to the TARDIS, she walked over and placed her hand on the blue box. "I request privacy. Please ensure that no one comes into the console room from the inside." Her head went back slightly, hearing the consent, and she nodded. "Thank you."

Turning to the others, her sense of authority was made readily apparent with a simple glance. "All of you inside now. Jennifer, you and Michael help your livesmate in as well. We have a potential paradox looming over us all, and I do _not_ want the possibility of Reapers."

* * *

The Doctor was somewhat put out when his mother came into the room. It wasn't that she was unwelcome. It was because Rose sprang away from him, in order to run to her for a hug. The whole thing made him pout. Still, this was a bit better than what could have happened. Thankfully, Celeste approved of her. He didn't even want to ponder what could have happened had she not.

In her arms before she knew what she was doing, Rose had a fresh set of tears going and shook in Celeste's embrace, babbling. "I dunno what's wrong. _Everything's_ wrong. Everything's _fine_ and _wonderful_ and I _can't stop crying_! How do I fix it!" she shouted in her ear.

Shushing her audibly and with soothing feelings, Celeste simply rocked back and forth to let Rose calm down on her own. She had to shake her head at her son though, because he started forward to join in the hug. Smiling at him to placate the outright pout he had, she rubbed Rose's back and held on. "Shhh. It's all right, darling. There's a slight imbalance that's causing all of this. Let's sit down and talk about it, all right?"

Nodding mutely, Rose led her over to the two reading chairs in the room. Plopping down in the plush chair she usually claimed, Rose hung her head in her hands. "I don't understand. What am I doing _wrong_? I don't like feeling like this, I'm completely _mental_!"

"There's nothing you're doing incorrectly," Celeste said quietly, reaching over to pat her on the shoulder. Looking to her son though, she tilted her head with a bit of a smirk. "_He_, on the other hand, is doing _everything_ wrong."

"_ME_?" the Doctor blurted, causing Rose to pop her head up. His mouth hung open rather comically. "What the hell am _I_ doing wrong? I'm doing everything I can to take the pain and discomfort away from her! I can't do otherwise! It's impossible!" he complained rather loudly.

Nodding with a soft chuckle, Celeste fought the grin on her face. "That," she pointed at him. "That right there is what you're doing wrong. It's not your fault, I suppose. There weren't that many actual births. Well, you were the first after a long absence, but still. I seriously doubt any of this were in the books."

"No, and we read them. _Well_, John did, but he gave us the mental run down at any rate." Sighing, the Doctor ran his hand through his hair, further messing it up. "Right then, _what_ am I doing wrong?"

Placing her fingertips together, Celeste relaxed into the chair. "The most important thing to remember, is that you cannot do everything by yourself. _Either_ of you, in fact. There must be a balance between you, or little things like this will pop up. It's not all bad, you know. Some pain is necessary to let her know when she's stressing her body too much."

Brow scrunched together, the Doctor frowned. "I didn't think of that," he muttered.

Rose tilted her head and bit her lip at the sight of him like that. Heart absolutely melting, she stood and went to sit next to him on the bed. His arm went up automatically as she slid herself under his wing to cuddle him from the side. "Do you have any idea how much I love you, you silly git?" she said with a watery smile.

* * *

Once Romana gathered everyone into the console room, she took charge. "All right, I'm going to assume that you," she pointed at Jenny, "could hear Jack's thoughts when you first met. Is that correct?"

"Was bloody annoying," Jack slurred, causing Jenny to lightly tap his stomach with a grin on her face.

Nodding, she looked at Geoff. "Now you can hear what she's thinking, correct?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "And I'm not sure that's a good idea there, Jennifer."

Jenny blushed at that and hid her face in Jack's chest.

"I wouldn't be opposed to it," Jack chuckled.

It was Geoff's turn to gape and flush his cheeks. "Never realized I was so kinky."

"You have no idea," Ianto said dryly.

Flipping her hands out dismissively to shush everyone, Romana spoke up. "Enough of that, you naughty people. Jack, when you first met Jennifer, were you able to hear everything she was thinking?"

"Yeah?" Jack said, frowning.

Jenny looked sheepish. "Uhm, no you didn't," she said quietly. "Still don't."

"Really? Is there anything I should know about?" Jack asked her.

Hushing them with her hands again, Romana looked to Geoff. "I'm assuming that she can't hear everything you're thinking at this point either." Geoff's flush and slight shake of the head got her to nodding. "That is consistent with the few instances that I've read about. There was a study on pair bonded couples, where one was taken into the past to meet their lover before they were bound. In each case, the past lover was able to pick up thoughts and feelings of the one they were intended to marry. Dampeners were able to stop that from happening, however."

"That doesn't make any sense," Martha complained. "Isn't that backwards? And besides, Jenny was making him delightfully crazy with how she could hear every thought he had, and they were… in synch or whatever… I thought?"

Smirking, Romana nodded thoughtfully with a tilt of the head. "Yes and no."

"You're kidding me," Geoff said with wide eyes. Looking to Jenny's startled face, he nodded. "That's _exactly_ what she's not saying!"

There was a sparking crackle of light, and a man appeared on the other side of the console. He was dressed in a green overcoat on top of what appeared to be a dark brown tweed jacket, an open collared light brown shirt with fine striping, nearly black trousers, and work boots. Half of his long face was covered with dark sweeping hair. Bent over at first when he appeared, he popped up with a large smile on his face. "Hello! Oh! I don't think I've ever seen the console room so small before. Rather cosy, isn't it?"

"What? Who are you?" Mickey blurted.

The man patted the console fondly. "Thank you for not popping me out in the middle of a wall, there. Anyway, yes!" He looked up with a large smile on his face. "This is all rather confusing to you lot, isn't it? No _idea_ who I am. Rather fun though, I must say," he grinned.

Stepping in front of the others protectively, Romana stared at him with a hard look on her face. "I don't know who you are or how you got in here, but you best explain yourself before I have the TARDIS chuck you out on your coccyx."

The grin on his face became cheeky. _Such fire and bloody gorgeous all at the same time. Marvellous,_ he thought. She immediately blanched at him, and he checked his thoughts behind a rather flimsy door. "Well, to be honest, there are a number of things you could label me as. Not all of them are _nice_, per say, but you seem to not harangue me with anything harsher than the occasional slap. Well… at least I _hope_ not. Early days and all that. No telling, really though," he winked at her.

"Would you get to the point?" Romana snapped, completely frustrated and alarmed now. His mental presence was so powerful it completely astonished her.

Toothy grin on his face now, he inclined his head in acknowledgement. "I'm only here for one thing. Well, two… No, _three_. Yes. Three things, and what I can only assume to be the precursor to a slap and a snog later. _Well_, earlier for me – later for you. I'm here to help the 'Geoff-jack' sort themselves. Well, _mainly_. Both of them are going to be rather out of it for a while, and myself and one other have to get Geoff where he needs to be when you're done."

At her limit, Romana slapped him across the face. "Who _ARE_ you, you gobby idiot?"

"Good Lord, what _is_ it with you? Slapping? Kissing? The whole thing is ridiculous!" he said, while rubbing his cheek with his mouth hanging open. "Did you learn that from mum, or is that something all females tend to know solely from instinct?" he said while fighting a smirk.

The others in the room all looked at Jenny when she started giggling out of the blue. Letting Gwen support the still somewhat dazed Jack, she made her way forward and nudged Romana out of the way. Standing in front of him, her smile was a mile wide as she looked up into his face. "I only know of _one_ person who talks that much. Since you don't feel like him at all, I can _only_ assume that you're my brother."

Arms wide, his smile was just as big as hers. "Got it in one! He-llo!" With that lilting greeting, he leaned down and gave her a hug. "How are you doing with all of this?" He asked before they let up. "I mean, realizing of course that we're not human and the mores of their society would cringe outright over what you've just learned… You _are_ all right with this, aren't you?"

Tilting her head, Jenny smirked. "I probably know more about our society than you do at this point. Cousins ran the gambit in all of the Houses, and even though ours is a relation a generation removed, the genetics are so inherently diverse that any sort of defects are ninety nine point nine percent impossible – given that the point one percent is nothing more than a catch all, for ensuring that Sod's Law wont bite us. The only thing _truly_ frowned upon are direct siblings and parental level - child relationships. Which, to be perfectly honest, is quite horrid to think about," she scrunched her nose in disgust over that thought.

"Actually, I'm having the hardest time dealing with it," Geoff said. He was leaning against the railing with his arms crossed. "I mean, seriously. Up until fifteen minutes ago, I thought Jennifer was my _aunt_ for Rassilon's sake!"

Ianto looked around at everyone. Blinking, he shook his head and stared at Geoff. "You think _that's_ bad?"

Geoff snapped his head to look at him. "Oh, don't tell me."

"Wait," Jack blurted, becoming more lucid. "John and Donna are my _parents_?" He blinked and looked at Geoff. "What about Grey?"

"We were both adopted by a lovely couple who couldn't have children," Geoff said. "I don't suppose you know what happened to him?"

"Can I excuse myself?" Mickey interrupted while Jack was stunned by that revelation. "I need to look for some brain bleach or something." Martha shushed him with a poke in the ribs.

"We can talk genetics and the strangeness of Time Lord relationships later," Martha said. "I'm not sure how long we can stay in here, before someone back there wants to come in," she thumbed over her shoulder at the inner door to the rest of the ship.

"Good point!" the man moved around the console to tap a series of keystrokes. There was a clink from above, and the steel headset of the chameleon arch lowered itself.

Martha looked up and cringed outright. "Oh, _no_." Her memories of the thing weren't nice at all, and she looked between Geoff and Jack with worry all over her face.

"What? What is that thing?" Mickey asked.

Geoff was by himself on the opposite side of the console now, away from the thing and looking completely morose. "That's the chameleon arch," he said quietly. "Turns a Time Lord into a human. Oh god, do I _have_ to do this?" he complained. "I was done! It's not _fair_!"

Gwen handed Jack over to Ianto and went over to hug Geoff. "It's all right," she mumbled into his ear. "Think of it this way, at least I know now why you recruited me."

"But I wont remember," he complained.

"Not entirely," Jack said. "I thought it was weird at the time, but her tracking me down and the familiarity of her face made it so that I was going to ask her anyway, even if Suzie _didn't_ do all that crap."

Gwen turned her head. "_Really_? I thought it was just to fill a vacancy."

"There's nothing saying that the hub needs only five people," Jack said with a smirk. Looking at Ianto, he straightened up. "Thanks. Think I can stand." He wobbled a bit when Ianto let go, and Mickey grabbed his other shoulder. "Or not. _Damn_, this is inconvenient."

Blinking at the screen, the man in green brought himself short. "Hang about, have you two done the deed yet?" he asked Geoff.

Geoff's head spun to gape at him. "_Damn_, Josh! What the hell? I'm still coming to grips with all this. You haven't even said _hi_ to me yet, and you're asking me…"

"Yes I am, because this is very important," Josh interrupted. "If you don't before this is done, your personal history will change and our effective baby sister will never have been born. Do you want to chance that?"

"That was low," Geoff said with a glare. "_Especially_ for you."

"Stop," Jenny said with a half shout. "Before we even consider that, we have a limited timetable. From what I've seen with how John and Donna bonded, and then Dad's roundabout description of something similar happening to him and mum, there is _no way_ that we can do this with everyone present." Shaking her head with her hand up to forestall any more bickering, she continued. "And on top of that, the TARDIS is about to set herself into refit mode, or whatever she calls it. All of us have to be _outside_ for that to work."

"Ohhh, that could be a problem," Romana said rather worriedly. Moving Josh out of the way, she brought up a different screen. Going over it, she nodded. "According to this, the TARDIS will refit herself at eleven fifteen and fourteen seconds this evening." The TARDIS warbled a protest at that. "Yes you are, unless you're trying to stave it off longer." The silence was telling. "I thought so. I wouldn't recommend it."

Turning to the others, she continued. "All things being normal, this could be done faster than you can think about. However, with the other considerations, I doubt this will be simple." She turned to query the ship's status at the keyboard.

Smirking, Josh spoke up. "Jack, do you think you two could take Geoff to your on site quarters in the hub?"

Turning around, Romana shook her head. "No. That's a _bad_ idea."

"Oh, my dear _Romana_," Josh said with a glint in his eye, making her take an involuntary step backwards. "Don't you remember that Time Lords can can meet themselves without causing Reapers to appear?"

She nodded. "Yes, but Jack is fobbed and I don't know…"

"That makes it even _easier_!" Josh interrupted. "Jack has no memory of the events in question, so there is no chance of a paradoxical event occurring. Besides, dad's met himself on numerous occasions before."

"Breaking the first law of time in the process!" Romana protested.

Sighing, Josh looked at the top of the time rotor and thought some rather unkind things about her fastidiousness to the rules.

"That was _Rude_!" Romana baulked at him.

Looking back at her, he grinned. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said with a very blatant false sense of innocence about him. "I didn't project a single thing."

Eyes round now, Romana backed up until she hit the railing. "That's impossible," she whispered.

"And there it is," Josh said with a rather devilish smirk. "Knew you'd catch on. You're brilliant like that."

Everyone looked back and forth between them like they were attending a tennis match. Martha was fighting a huge smile on her face when she caught on, and stifled a snicker. Jenny just raised an eyebrow. Amusing as it was to watch this, her previous thoughts were at the forefront of her mind, which made Geoff completely uncomfortable. Gwen and Ianto caught the implications and smirked at each other. Mickey, on the other hand, simply didn't want to know. All he was certain about was that this man in front of him was going to be his godson. The thought was a bit appalling.

Smiling warmly at Romana, Josh clapped his hands together. "Right then! Now that _that's_ been sorted," he turned to the others. "None of you are to talk about this with anyone that isn't in this room this very moment. Am I perfectly clear?"

He waited till everyone nodded before continuing. "John and Donna are to be totally out of the loop on this, and anything said could make everything go _completely_ pear shaped. Mum and Dad, that's Rose and the Doctor to you, are to be kept out as well. I do believe that Sylvia is here, _at least she's supposed to be_, and she wouldn't even understand it without going off in one of her half cocked conspiracy theories. She gets better, but not much. At any rate, don't tell her either. The absolutely ONLY person not here that can be told, would be gramma Celeste. BUT, only if absol-bloody-lutely necessary."

Silence reigned for a bit, until Jack broke it with a quiet, "Oh god, Sylvia's my _grandmother_."

Looking over to his sister, Josh grinned. "Go on. I know you want to," he said while tilting his head to the door."

"Still a bad idea!" Romana protested.

"Foreknowledge!" Josh countered just as loudly. "Happened before, so there's no worries about it. Think of it as a time bubble. No, not a bubble. Forget the bubble."

"Predestination Paradox," Jenny said with a huge smile on her face.

Josh pointed at her, "Exactly! Now, everyone go about your evening, and try not to act too weird around them when they have to come out."

"I want a word with you," Romana said with a glare.

Turning his head with a knowing smile, Josh beamed at her. "I just _bet_ you do." Just the sight of her flushing scarlet at what he wasn't hiding in his head got him to chuckling. _'I just bet you do,'_ he deliberately thought to her.


	14. Educational Catharsis

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Fourteen  
- Educational Catharsis -_

* * *

_**A/N:** A short bit of quasi calm before the storm. Go to goo[dot]gl[slash]kEkf9 to see a family tree that I did. Spoilery as all get out, but not if you've been paying attention. _=)

* * *

"There you are. Perfect," Celeste praised. She had the Doctor and Rose sitting cross legged on their bed, facing each other and holding hands. Her praise came when she felt their bond resonating as she'd instructed. Even though they had their eyes closed, she tried not to smirk at what they were doing with their faces. Reminded her of the first time her son ate a pear at age six.

"I don't like it," Rose and the Doctor said at the same time. Opening their eyes, they saw their matching expressions, then turned to Celeste. "Doesn't feel right," they said.

Losing control of her smile, Celeste shook her head. "I'm not quite sure what's more disturbing, the fact that you two said that at the same time – which isn't that surprising I suppose – or the matching inflections. Your accents were different before."

"I'm not doing what I'm supposed to," the Doctor said.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up," Rose said at the same time, "and my back hurts."

Chuckling, Celeste sighed in relief. "Oh good, then you're doing it right."

Blinking, Rose turned to look at the Doctor. "Wait, is this what you've been doing? Taking every _ounce_ of pain I've got?" When he looked at her sheepishly, not saying anything, she sighed and shook her head. "I love you, but please don't do that to yourself, nor me. I know you have a martyr complex three parsecs wide, but please – for the love of creation – _don't_ do that. She's right. I need to know when I'm overdoing it. From the state my back's in, I'm already overdoing something." She shook her head at him, then smirked. "Course, that could be your fault from last night," she tacked on cheekily.

The Doctor had been looking down between their touching knees, feeling guilty, but he popped his head up in alarm when she said that last bit. "_Please_ don't talk about that with my mother around."

The sight of his ears turning slightly pink set Rose to giggling. Turning back to Celeste, who was also chuckling, she winked at her. "Too bad you don't have old baby pictures. Could really embarrass him then. Thank you by the way."

"You're welcome," Celeste said with a genuine smile. "In lieu of pictures, I could tell you some stories of when he was a child."

Eyes popping, the Doctor gave his mother a pained look. "Please don't. I'd like to have _some_ dignity left when everything is said and done."

Grinning wider, Celeste gave her son a look, then turned to Rose. "There was this time when Doromor brought back some samples from sixteenth century Earth – fruits and vegetables from all across the planet. Guess what he picked up first?"

Huge smile on her face from feeling the Doctor's mortification and a phantom taste in her mouth, Rose turned to see the hint of pink actually reaching his face for once. "A pear," she said, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth.

"Six years old, and swearing up a storm," Celeste chuckled. "Of course, that's where he first got the idea to save your home planet."

Rose flicked her eyes over to look at her. "How so?" The thought of a six year old Doctor wanting to right wrongs was so adorable that she squeezed his hands just thinking about it.

"My little moppet spent three weeks designing a replacement fruit," Celeste said with a hint of pride.

"Bananas?" Rose said with her mouth open. When Celeste nodded, Rose's head went back as she cackled loudly. "Loads of potassium my left bum-cheek, you just wanted me to like your school project!"

"Wasn't in school at that point," the Doctor mumbled, grinning despite himself.

Their discussion was cut short when the TARDIS got their attention by nudging their minds. _Beloveds, please step outside. Refit will commence in fifteen minutes._

Looking up, the Doctor was surprised. "Refit?" His eyes flicked back down to Rose, when she relayed the discussion she had with the ship earlier. "Oh."

* * *

In the TARDIS kitchen, John and Donna had moved their conversation with Sylvia for some tea. Their discussion was somewhat amiable, considering. Amiable in this case, being in Chiswick style and inflections. Meaning, the occasional shout, reprimand, and continuing on unabashed. No one could say it wasn't lively, though.

Still, throughout the evening, Sylvia came more and more to terms with what had happened to Donna. Just from what was being gone over between the three of them put her fears mostly to rest. While Donna was undoubtedly different – what with her appearance and her new way of phrasing things – she was still the same with her razor like tongue. That more than anything was what had her hackles up though. This version of her daughter wasn't someone she could run over, or stop with a glance. If anything, her change brought out the fighter that she tried to raise… much to her chagrin.

Sylvia never thought that her own ways would be thrown back in her face quite like this. Worse, it was two against one, and no amount of sidestepping could get her out of that. John was more than a match, and had no compunctions against giving it to her with both barrels. The worst thing about it was, and she hated to admit it, they were _both_ right.

It was going on eleven in the evening, and Sylvia was simply shattered at this point. Usually, she shoved the world away and was happy in a snooze round nine. Whether it was the force of the conversation keeping her awake or the strong tea that John had made, she wasn't sure. But, the way her own set of beliefs had been ripped to shreds had her to the point of tears.

There was a break in the conversation, and Donna watched as her mother rested her forehead in her palm. Seeing something shiny trail down her face, she reached over and took her other hand. "Mum, are you crying?"

"No," Sylvia said in fruitless denial. "Yes, but… Oh, never mind. It's just usually at this point when Geoff or Dad would jump in between us to keep the peace, and I'm tired." Sighing, she closed her eyes. "God, how I miss your father," she whispered. "I keep thinking I should've done more."

"There was no way anyone could have known about his heart," John said gently. "Even with exercise and clean living, that wouldn't have held the aneurysm back. A dissected aorta isn't easily diagnosed, and nearly one hundred percent fatal no matter what anyone does."

"I know," Sylvia whispered, shuddering.

Squeezing her hand again, Donna tried to be consoling. "We'll always remember him, and we'll have his namesake…"

"_Why_ didn't you ever go back?" Sylvia interrupted with a snap. "Did you ever think to ask? This is a time machine, and the thought of going back to save your father never crossed your mind?"

Sighing, Donna looked at John and shared the same thought. _This_ was the heart of her mother's hatred of the Doctor. Looking back to her mother, she tilted her head. "It wouldn't have worked, mum. There are some things that Time Travel simply _cannot_ do. Forgetting the fact that it's just wrong for the moment, there are things out there that would have prevented it from happening had we tried. Things that would make any nightmare you may have had simply run away in horror."

John picked up where she left off. "Beyond time and space, there are things that would do anything and everything to stop us."

"You didn't even try!" Sylvia said with her voice cracking.

"The Doctor did that once," Donna said quietly. "He loves Rose so much that he tried to save her father, and nearly destroyed the world in the process. It wouldn't work, mother. It never could."

Just hearing the finality of that caused Sylvia to look down to the table. Tears slipped out to dot the wood when she squeezed her eyes tightly closed. Geoff was everything to her, and her last hope of ever seeing him again was finally broken. After a bit, she realized that she was standing and being held close. What was surprising about that, was the fact that it was John that was doing it.

Looking up, John and Donna heard the ship's announcement. John glanced at Donna, and she went to gather some cold cuts from the refrigerator. "Why don't we take this outside for a bit. Get out in the air for a while?" John said, letting up on the hug.

"What for?" she asked.

Donna looked over from the kitchen counter, where she was placing a light supper into a basket. "Our lovely ship is going to be doing some self maintenance very shortly. We can't be inside while she does her work. Not something she does all the time, but it's something that's been way past due."


	15. Changes

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Fifteen  
- Changes -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I've never mentioned, because it should really be obvious, but I don't own Doctor Who or the rights of likeness to any of the actors. Be that as it may, I hope they appreciate the depictions I've put out here. I'm pretty sure though, that Felicity Jones would be rather pleased in being in Doctor Who again, cast for Romana this time as opposed to a thief._

_This chapter has been driving me round the bend. The muses are plodding along and not moving the story appreciably. To that end, I've put them to the side in an attempt to get this moving. We're on chapter fifteen already, and this has seemingly gone nowhere. RoseMuse is ecstatic about this, as she's complaining about becoming as big as a house. DoctorMuse countered that by saying she's a lovely house. The glare that got made me wince with the headache it provoked._

_During all this nonsense with this chapter, I've reread 'Never Quite Normal', and Highly recommend that you give it a glance at least once. Bloody fantastic._

* * *

The evening was quite chilled and a smattering of snow had started up. Joshua had taken Romana to the roof of the Millennium Centre, and they simply stood there for a while, watching the fat flakes of snow drift lazily down. After a bit, he felt a mental probe from her and turned his head with a grin. "There are many ways to get information safely." Reaching into his coat pocket, he clicked something and cut her off.

Startled, Romana turned to look at him with large eyes. "What did you do?" She watched him pull something from his pocket so she could see. "Dampener?"

Nodding, Joshua tilted his head. "Found the design for it in the TARDIS data banks, which should be something Jenny needs to get a hold of later or things will be rather awkward. There's too much up here that you really shouldn't know about just yet. Like Donna's been fond of saying: Spoilers."

"Didn't stop you before," she chided, thoroughly annoyed at this point.

"Had to get your attention first," he said with a small smile. "You were rather specific about it. Something about shocking you into thinking the impossible, as it were."

"I'm still unsure how to feel about it," she muttered.

Smirking, Joshua turned. "One way to find out." Placing his left hand behind her neck, he rushed her into a kiss.

Eyes bulging now, the flats of her fists started smacking his shoulders in protest. His right arm had snaked around her back, and nothing she could do would get him to let up. As the kiss went on, the beatings slowed to a stop. Her fists rested on his shoulders for a bit before opening to grab a hold of them. Pulling at the fabric, she surprised him by turning the kiss into an open snog.

It was over before she wanted, and looked up confusedly into his twinkling eyes. His rather quiet 'Gotcha,' was met with a scowl.

She slapped him again, making him laugh riotously. "You know dear, I'm really hoping you'll get out of that habit. I'm only doing what you will tell me to do, you know."

"The audacity! The outlandish behaviour!" she huffed. Pausing, she tilted her head as something else came to mind. "How _old_ are you?" she asked, her breath visible on the air. "Are you even out of puberty yet?" she half shouted, thoroughly pissed off now.

Smiling, Joshua winked at her. "Spoilers."

* * *

Accessible only by ladder, Jack's living space was under his office. Spartan, the furniture was a small writing desk, chair, and a double bed. The place was quite small, and had a tiny lavatory attached with a shower stall. A cork push-pin frame was above the desk, and had several photographs pinned to it. Since his original departure from the TARDIS was less than planned, the photos were all from surveillance. Many were of the Doctor in different incarnations, but there were a few of Rose that appeared to be taken from a telephoto lens. Of those, only a few of them were recent, with the remainder being of various points of her childhood.

Jenny and Geoff looked the place over and had similar reactions. Geoff's quarters in the fifty first century weren't that much larger, and Jenny's on the TARDIS was equally bare.

Jack was halfway down the ladder when Geoff turned to look up at him. "This is what I have to look forward to? Living in a warren?"

"What's wrong with that?" Jenny asked, slightly put off, having been born in one.

Geoff caught that immediately. "Sorry."

Closing the overhead trapdoor entrance, Jack hopped down and turned with a bit of a chuckle. "Had to be sure that I was in the area when the TARDIS showed up for refuelling."

There was a bit of a pause, and the three of them looked at each other rather awkwardly. "Why don't we have a seat and talk a bit," Jack offered. Reaching behind the desk, he opened a small refrigerator. "Anyone want something to drink?"

Geoff shook his head. "This will never do." Flipping his strap open, he entered some coordinates. "Not going to have all of this in a dungeon." Grabbing Jenny's hand with his left, he gave her a look and she did the same with Jack.

A half smirk went over Jack's face. "What did you have in mind?"

"Corispar," Geoff said with a matching grin. Smacking the last button in the sequence, they crackled through the timestream.

* * *

The hub wasn't that much better in the awkward department. Everyone was at their desk and remained rather quiet. Ianto was the first one to break out of it. "To hell with this, I'm going home for the night. See you in the morning." Standing, he went to grab his coat.

Snapped out of their internal thoughts, the others seemed to come alive. "Yeah, me too," Gwen said. "Rhys will be wondering."

"G'night," Martha said as they gathered their things. Looking over to Mickey, she pushed out from her desk and rolled her chair over to his. "We're staying," she basically ordered.

"Yeah," Mickey agreed. "Look too weird if we're all gone. Besides, someone needs to run interference for them." His general wave towards Jack's office indicated who he was talking about.

Glancing up to the office briefly, Martha looked back to Mickey with a smirk. He really didn't need to know, and knew anyway. He ended up back smacking Martha's shoulder with a small, "Stop that."

"Two of them though," Martha bit her lip. "Ianto said he was innovative, but can you imagine?"

"Stop that!" Mickey reiterated with large eyes.

* * *

The rest of the evening went surprisingly without incident. When the others came out of the TARDIS, Martha was sly in her way of diverting their attention. Romana was apparently 'out to eat', Jack and Jenny were 'occupied', and the others had gone home for the evening. With all the different ways that people were sidetracked about how alien incidents were actually something else and how a lie with a smattering of truth in it would be accepted, she was surprised at how well it worked on Time Lords.

After Sylvia conked out on the couch – _blanket provided by Donna_ – John and the Doctor looked at the TARDIS with wide grins. The glowing behind the frosted windows had started up. Donna and Rose were drawn to their husbands from their emotional reactions, but the Doctor seemed to be the most affected by it. His head had gone back a bit, and swayed from the feelings he was getting from the ship. To him, it was like the old girl was stretching like a cat in a sunbeam.

Seeing that made John frown a bit, which was immediately picked up on and comforted by Donna hugging him. There were many times that John felt left out of things, and this was just another notch. Rose completely missed it due to the fact that she was blissfully swaying just as much as the Doctor. If any of them had put any thought on the matter, they would've realized that Rose was bonded to the ship as well. Her stint through the entire Bad Wolf scenario ensured it.

Thirty two minutes and forty seconds later, the glow behind the windows died out. This was replaced by a slight crackling as the police box shell was upgraded. While the colour didn't change, it did become a deeper shade of blue and appeared to be freshly painted. On the right door, something the Doctor hadn't seen in a very long time had reappeared: The 'St. John's Ambulance' logo.

Tracing the circle with his finger, the Doctor looked at them from the side. "Fancy a peek?"

Coming into the ship, Rose was pleased that it hadn't changed much. The coral was still there, but was newer and gleaming instead of the dinginess that she was used to. The console was the same distance from the door, but she could tell that the controls were upgraded. All of the hodgepodge on it was replaced by controls that appeared to match. She grinned when she found that the green glass paperweight was still in place.

More expansive than it had been, the dome was at least twice as large. However, further in seemed to expand outward in a sort of oblong. Instead of the inside of a sphere, it was like being inside a rather large pill. Twice as long as it was wide, the other side seemed to be a kind of cross between a living space and kitchenette.

"Fantastic," John whispered, forgetting himself completely. Looking up, he had to ask. "How'd you feel, old girl?"

_Immensely better_, the ship replied contentedly with a sigh.

"Oooh, I like this," Donna said, kneeling down to rub the highly polished wooden floor. "Much better than that metal grating. Can actually see myself going barefoot now."

Smiling wide, the Doctor took everything in. "You've outdone yourself, you sexy thing. I love it."

"Completely brilliant, love," Rose praised. "Thank you for not going retro."

_I told you I like my natural form,_ the TARDIS replied. _The coral is me. That white business was nothing but a shell, and I hated it. Too confining.  
_

"Viewing screen's back," John noted, pointing to the large round indentation in the wall to the left of the entrance. "Hell of a lot better than looking at a small monitor or opening the bleeding door."

"Anything else changed all that much?" Donna asked. "Should probably get mum into a room. Her back will be playing up in the morning if we leave her on that raggedy couch."

_Rearranged things a bit, but mostly the same. Definitely cleaner though._

Donna nodded. "Right. Going to fetch mum."

Rose was at the kitchenette, running her hand along the marble appearing counter. The cabinets were done up in a richly dark wood. To the left of the industrial sized sink was what she assumed was the stove and burners. Opening what she thought was a cupboard, she stepped back when light hit her face. "Oh, I _love_ the fridge."

"Mixing old with new," the Doctor mused. "She was a lot like this before the war, only in stone and the like. Have to say I rather like this."

The TARDIS hummed, pleased with their reactions. A door next to the living space opened. _Library through there_, she directed. Closing that one, she opened another next to the couch. _Zero room. Do not object to it my ladies, the little ones will need it when we travel._

Rose came up short, confused. "Pardon? I thought that was for after regeneration."

"I think the idea is for us to hang out in there while the TARDIS is in flight," Donna said. Patting her belly, she clarified. "Want to be sure nothing bothers the babies," she said with a grin.

"Oh!" Rose said. "Right. Yeah, don't like the idea of any temporal _anything_ going on with them right now."

"Space hoppers are equally off limits," the Doctor said from the other side of the room. "You think it's bad with a capsule, try it without. No... Forget I said that. Don't." Changing the subject, he plopped himself down in one of two comfy couches. "Oh, I like this." Grinning ear to ear, he stuck his legs out to rest his feet on the coffee table. He turned his head to see a rather bleary eyed Sylvia being led through.

"Bigger than it was," Sylvia said blinkedly.

Donna held on to her as she walked her through to the other side. "We'll show you around in the morning. For now, let's get you to bed."

"Lovely," Sylvia said, before yawning. They were through and into the rest of the ship without anything else being said.

"Bout as quiet as I've ever seen her," John commented with a chuckle. Turning round, he saw Rose slump next to the Doctor on the couch.

"Kinda tired myself," Rose said, snuggling close. "Mind if I kip here?" She frowned when the Doctor made to stand up, and held him in place. "Mind if _we_ kip here?" she clarified. "Not doing without my favourite pillow." The Doctor chuckled and arranged themselves more comfortably.

"We can explore in the morning I suppose," he said. Closing his eyes, he metabolised all the caffeine he'd imbibed earlier. Blinking, he yawned unexpectedly, then settled back with Rose draped over him. "Yeah, I like this. Much better than a blanket." The small whap to his shoulder made him giggle.

Seeing them like that, John excused himself to go fetch Martha and Mickey.


	16. All Sorts of Dancing

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Sixteen  
- All Sorts of Dancing -_

* * *

_**A/N:** The music mention in the first part of this happens to be what I'm listening to at the moment. Highly recommend it if you're into dance music._

* * *

_**Corispar – Fifty Third Century**_

Planet Corispar, the jewel of the Vegas Galaxies, is technically a moon. Orbiting a gas giant with rings that makes Saturn's look absolutely _tiny_, it rests in between the azure Echo and Farpoint rings. Oberoth, the orange banded gas giant in question, orbits Telspar and Drinin within the goldilocks zone. The binary star system has been the centre of celebrations from the fiftieth to the fifty eighth centuries.

Mercy City, the capitol, has the highest rating for entertainment. Out of its many establishments, the main attraction is the largest building in the city: The Pentopt, a five sided pyramid that houses many clubs and dance halls. Everyone wants to get into the one at the very top.

The Pentaclees is most sought out soley for the view, since the cap of the pyramid is reinforced transparent parasteel. Once a night, the top opens to the outside air like a flower – with its music serenading the city. Multiple levels, the various dance floors were situated so that they could be adjusted and moved once the outer cap was opened. This enabled everyone an uninterrupted view of the sky.

As midnight drew near, Jenny was dancing in between Jack and Geoff on the centre floor at the top. Pulsing music reverberated all around them. Both men were doing a number around her that was both sensual, protective, and ensured that they had enough space to move since the place was absolutely packed.

Jenny flitted back and forth between them, instinctively knowing which was which even without the bond, though the strobe lighting made it somewhat difficult to see. Jack's age and presence was distinctive against Geoff's youth and exuberance. Wearing matching clothes, which involved leather appearing trousers and loose cloth tops, the three of them dominated the dance floor. Their moves between and around each other was aided in no small part with their telepathy, as the three of them had locked their minds together. This was both because they needed to hear each other over the din, but also to help Geoff come to grips with who he was going to be.

The only thing unusual, if you knew them, was the fact that none of them were drinking. The contact high from dancing and their mental connection with each other were the only things they really needed.

_'What music is this? It's wonderful!'_ Jenny asked as she shimmied and preened between them.

_'Classic,'_ the pair of them answered, then laughed at each other.

Jack spun her around, _'Junkie XL from the very early twenty first century.'_

_'With Saffron, of course,'_ Geoff added, catching Jenny from her spin so that they stared into each other's eyes. She grinned at him, then kissed his lips briefly before being spun about again.

_'Beauty Never Fades,' _they said together, ringing in with the lyrics.

_'Don't recognize the mix though,'_ Geoff commented.

Jack smirked at the irony. _'Pixel and Domestic.'_ He _had_ to tell Rose about that one.

"Damn! Share the _wealth_ girl!" one of the dancers that was close by shouted. The look on her face was one of pure envy. No, wait. She's Asterion and supposed to be green. The red hair had to be a genetic dye job though. Not ginger... _Red_, as in crimson. It was quite striking, in a Christmas sort of way.

Grinning wickedly, Jenny did a pirouette and grabbed Geoff and Jack's hands, pulling them to the either side of her. They caught on to what she had in mind and slapped themselves in close to her to bite either side of her neck while grabbing one cheek of her backside. Jenny stared at the wide eyed fake redhead and smiled. 'Mine,' she mouthed to her, before spinning the three of them around in a move that would have got them arrested in the twenty first century.

There was a thunk in the floor and the top of the pyramid started to open like a flower, causing a cheer throughout the place.

* * *

_**Earth 2010**_

Mickey looked over when he heard John's rather loud attention getting whistle. Seeing him with his head stuck out of the TARDIS, he grinned. "Safe to come in yet?"

"Yeah," John said with a big grin. "Prepare to be impressed, Mickey the non-idiot."

It took him a second to realize that he wasn't being insulted. Chuffing a chuckle, Mickey wagged a finger at him and went to get Martha out of the medical atrium.

John led them inside with a finger to his lips. Both of them were wide eyed. "Bigger in here, boss," Mickey said, admiring the refurbished console. "Cleaner too."

"This is brilliant," Martha said quietly, just after spotting Rose and the Doctor napping further in. "Is that wood?" she asked, pointing to the floor. "Don't recognize the pattern, and it looks like one solid piece."

John shook his head. "Coral. Isn't it gorgeous?" He looked about the place, and felt a bit of a pang. That brought Donna's attention immediately, and he felt her look in his head to see what was the matter. Finding it, she let him know that she was done with Sylvia and would be out soon.

"So, she just grew all this?" Mickey asked.

John nodded. "Essentially. The bits that aren't coral based are the controls on the console, and the furniture. Oh, the wood and stone in the kitchenette as well."

"Why have a kitchen in the console room anyway?" Martha asked, completely confused. "This is for flying the TARDIS, I thought."

"Nothin says it can't be both," John said, sitting on one of the now four jump seats that surrounded the console. "Besides, with all the people about, makes it easier to find room and be able to jump outside quicker."

"_Ohh_ that's lovely," they heard Rose murmur from the other side of the room. Looking over, they saw the Doctor rubbing her lower back while she was lying on top of him.

"Private moment?" Mickey whispered.

Looking up, the Doctor shook his head at them. "No. Her back's sore. Just getting the knots to relax."

Concerned, Martha walked over to them. Kneeling next to the couch, she saw Rose open her eyes with a questioning look. "May I?" she asked, holding her hand out towards her side.

Nodding, Rose turned to her side a bit and let Martha examine by touch. Pressing the side of her bump, she saw the twitch of Rose's left eye. Moving around the side, she traced the muscles towards her back. Seeing the wince again, she nodded.

"What?" Rose asked with sleepy eyes.

"Have you noticed a bit more growth around the middle lately?" Martha asked her. Seeing the nod, she continued. "Recommend getting some lotion, Doctor. Going to want to rub the sides and her lower back. Don't know about the elasticity of Time Lord skin, but this is usually the point where you want to keep it supple."

"Why's that?" the Doctor asked, honestly curious.

Poking his chest, Rose gave him a look. "Because _someone_ decided I should carry the next generation around in my midsection. They're called stretch marks, swee'ear', and I'd like to minimize that, _thank_ you so much."

Raising a single brow at her, the Doctor could tell she was teasing with a hint of truth about it. "Mutual decision. You know I'd carry him if it were biologically possible. Besides, you know we can handle any sort of repair work to your skin if needed." Seeing the look _that_ provoked, he began dancing with his mouth. "Of course, we should do everything we can to avoid damage in the first place, and if I had my way there'd be no discomfort for you at all, if you recall."

Tilting her head, Rose conceded that point. "Yeah. Don't like the idea of going round the bend again, so don't do that."

"Pardon?" Martha asked.

Grinning, Rose patted the Doctor's chest. "This big lump was taking _all_ of my pain. While that was nice of him and all, it caused a bit of a whoopsie in my head. My body's going through a lot, and with the pain voided, the backup system was to turn on the waterworks. With nothing actually causing me to cry, it was making me crazy."

Blinking at that, Martha could only come up with one thing to say to that. Turning her head to give him a chastising look, she was rather deadpan dry. "Stop driving your wife mad, Doctor. I remember what you went through when she was gone, and it isn't healthy for either of you." Pausing, she tilted her head as something occurred to her. "You know, I'm half surprised that the pair of you weren't locked in the head before I met you."

Turning to look at him, Rose turned on her puppy look. "Did My Doctor miss me?" she asked with a babyish sort of pout on her face, batting her eyelashes at him.

This of course, caused the Doctor to simply gape at her with a bit of fear on his face.

"Oh, that's terrible," Martha complained with closed eyes, standing up. "Mickey? C'mon. I want to get that picture out of my head."

"What?" he asked, turning around from his inspection of the camouflaged refrigerator. "She doing her 'Get What I Want; When I Want; How I Want It; Doe Eyed Stare' again?" Mickey asked. Glancing over, he winced. "Oh, yeah. _Know _that one. Good luck, boss."

Martha met him in the middle, and they exited the room to go explore. "Glad you don't do that," he told her.

"Nah," Martha grinned. "I just smack the back of your head to get what I want." Seeing Donna come through, they waved at her as they passed each other. "Nice place you got here," she said with a grin. "Watch out for those two though, they're upping the PDA around here."

Chuckling, Donna shook her head. "I can only imagine." Coming into the console room, she waved her fingers at Rose and the Doctor, then went to go sit on the other couch. "Oi, pretty boy," she called out to John. "Get that arse of yours over here."

"Uhh, Donna?" the Doctor gave her a wary glance.

"Hmm?"

"Don't do that."

She turned her head to look at him. "Do what?"

"The 'pretty boy' routine," he said. "Reminds me of the last time I heard that with that voice, and it's making me itch."

"Has to be done sometime," she said, waving her hand dismissively. John sat next to her, and she rested against his side. "Found something to get you out of that funk of yours."

"What funk?" Rose asked, concerned. She was still miffed at him, but if he was upset she could overlook it for a while.

John looked pensive. "Donna," he said quietly with a touch of warning in his voice.

"No, we're not going to hide things from each other. It's childish and I'm not going to stand for it." She tapped his nose with a finger and turned her attention back to the other two. "Guess who's feeling left out lately?" she asked, thumbing over her shoulder at John.

"Left out of what?" the Doctor asked, still massaging Rose's lower back.

Tilting her head, Donna gave him a one eyed squint. "You _really_ have no idea, do you?"

"I would if you'd just tell me," he complained.

Sighing, John let his head go back to stare at the new architecture of the ceiling. It was odd. At first it looked like the sphere of the console room simply stretched. Instead, he could see that the living and kitchen area was a touch smaller in circumference, and extended almost like an old fashioned thermometer.

"Put simply," Donna explained, "You two are bonded with the ship, and we're not. While I remember what that was like, with what I got from you, it isn't something that's concrete for me. For him though, it's like losing a sense."

The Doctor's hands stopped moving, and he stared at his brother with large eyes. "Is that true? You talk with her all the time, though."

"Talk, yeah," John said softly. "The rest isn't there though. I don't feel what she does, and if it came down to it – she'd pick you over me. Not saying that's _wrong_ or anything, but…" he trailed off.

Rose slid herself to the back of the couch as the Doctor sat up, then draped herself over his shoulders. "No. I know _exactly_ how that feels," the Doctor said. "Had to live for a year without her due to her being forced to cause a paradox, so I can empathize with you on that." He looked around. "Not sure how to go about remedying it though."

"I do," Donna sing songed in a lower register, a huge grin all over her face. Turning her head, she looked up at John and enjoyed the startled look on his face when he felt what she knew.

"You are so kidding me," John said with his mouth hanging open. Donna shook her head at him, and he leaned down to kiss her. "I wanna see it," he said excitedly with a big grin on his face.

"See what?" the Doctor said, completely confused now.

Donna grinned and finger motioned to him and Rose as she stood up. "Come on. You are going to bounce all over the place." Taking John's hand, she waited till Rose was standing – looking as confused as the Doctor was – and led them out.

* * *

"Thought I'd find you two here," Celeste said, completely startling Romana and Joshua.

"Blimey, Grams!" Joshua blurted, forgetting when he was. "Give a bloke a double heart attack with that stealth routine of yours." Realizing what he said, he winced outright. "Don't suppose you're going to forget that, are you?"

Grinning, Celeste patted his shoulder and gave a knowing look at Romana. "See? Told you it was a good idea to go younger."

Staring at her with her mouth half open, Romana was completely taken by surprise. "You _knew_ about this?"

"I think you'll find that nothing gets past that woman," Joshua said with a chuckle. "How are you coping Grams?"

Celeste rubbed her hands together in the cold and tilted her head. "Better than I thought I would be, if you want the truth. Personally, I think having all of you to care for has done me a lot of good." Tapping his shoulder, she pulled Joshua into a hug. "How about you? This has to be somewhat worrisome."

"Well, it'd be better if she'd stop slapping me, but other than that I'm doing rather well," he said with a chuckle. "When it's all said and done though, I'm completely thrilled to be home again."

Catching that, Romana stared at him with a bit of alarm. "You've been away?" Their pensive expressions at her sparked a connection with what had happened earlier. "Geoff isn't the only one that was lost, was he?" she stated, rather than asked.

A quick glance to Celeste, who approved, he nodded. "All three of us."

"Three?"

"Geoff, myself…" he paused, "and _Arkytior_," he whispered.

Mouth dropping open in shock, Romana remembered the lost girl who claimed the Doctor as her grandfather. She was several years ahead her in the academy, and had dropped out when her telepathic abilities went out of control. No one knew where she had come from, nor where she went after her mental detonation.

Rumours circulated that the Doctor stole a TARDIS to get her off of Gallifrey in order to avoid the inquiry, but she didn't put any stock in them until she travelled with the Doctor herself. It was a quiet conversation in the library, but that was what caused her to distract him with a kiss.

Shaking herself out of her memories, Romana looked up at Joshua. "Jenny and Jack?" Joshua's pensive nod was all it took, and she closed her eyes. "Do I need to know what happened?" she asked quietly.

"Only if you wish to share the burden with me," Celeste said just as softly. "I'm the one who found her in the TARDIS fields."

Steeling herself, Romana nodded without opening her eyes. "I'll help you carry it," she whispered. "No one should bear pain on their own."

Celeste squeezed her shoulder. "Their initiation was met with a small disaster," she said. "It was a minor bout of turbulence in the vortex, but…"

Snapping her eyes open, Romana gaped at her. "They're simply opening the door? Do they know how _dangerous_ that is?" her voice was raspy and raising in pitch as she realized just how much of a burden she was taking upon herself.

"Worked for my sister," Joshua said quietly. "To be honest, we three had some suspicions. However, what you interrupted her saying, was that the TARDIS was the one that caused the accident in the first place."

A small squeak came out of Romana's mouth, completely mortified now. "Why?"

"You know the answer to that one, my dear," Celeste said quietly.

Closing her eyes again, Romana rubbed her right temple. "Causality. Had to happen, because it happened already." Turning, she looked up at Joshua. "Where did you end up?" she asked, involuntarily hugging him without realizing she was doing it.

Kissing her forehead, Joshua flicked his eyes up to see Celeste nod again. "One dimension over. Had a rather good time growing up with my other grandfather. Needless to say, he was rather floored when he found out who I really was. His face was so pale, I was sure he was going to keel over. Actually grateful that his heart didn't stop."

Romana's head snapped up to gape at him with wide eyes. "That's the dimension that Rose fell into, yes?"

Joshua simply nodded with a wry grin on his face. "The only clue I'm allowed to give you, is that you should follow Jennifer's example. Bigger is not always better."

"That's enough, Joshua," Celeste quietly warned. "We need to get back down there. It's almost time for the Arch."

"I'm _really_ not looking forward to hearing that," Joshua complained.


	17. Watch and Learn

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Seventeen  
- Watch and Learn -_

* * *

_**A/N:** The bit that you missed with Jack's trio will happen later in the series. And yes, I was listening to Jack's theme for the last half of this chapter, but in an edited key. Down-pitched it to go with the mood a bit better._

* * *

The core quartet, with Donna in the lead, went through several turns and bends throughout the maze of corridors. John was actually rather hyperactive at this point, and had a bounce to his steps that wasn't something seen before with _this_ version of him. Rose and the Doctor followed behind, and did their best not to chuckle. Wasn't hard for Rose, as she was a bit beyond tired, but the Doctor had a bit of a problem with his tittering.

Coming to a stop in front of a pair of rather large curved doors, Donna turned to the others. "This will probably be a bit of a shock, Doctor, but I assure you it will be worth it."

Arching a single brow, the Doctor waved his hand for her to get on with it. His curiosity was on high, and his patience went the way of the Dodo. Rose simply patted the arm of his that she was clinging to, rolling her eyes.

"Voilà!" Donna shouted as she pushed the double door open. The light in the hallway dimmed quite a bit when the door opened.

The room was rather dark inside, with hints of light coming from a few of the hexed roundels in the walls. Similar to the old console room, it was a sphere that was about three quarters the size. There were six coral supports, but they were a bit different. Splitting sideways, they had something in them that reminded Rose of fruit on a tree.

Wide eyed, the former twins walked inside first, looking around in outright awe. Donna leaned on the door frame with a huge smile on her face.

Turning to her, Rose was interrupted by a yawn, then was able to ask her question. "Is this what he's broadcasting? Seriously?" At Donna's nod, Rose beamed a wide smile and hugged her from the side. "Brilliant."

While the Doctor was silently overjoyed at what he was seeing, John started laughing. Standing in the centre of the room, the pair of them looked around. Resting in each of the six coral supports, was a TARDIS seed. Looking up, the Doctor voiced his confusion. "Wh- When did _this_ happen?" he asked in a squeaky voice.

_Pollination occurred when the Rani's TARDIS was docked,_ their ship said with a bit of smugness. _There are twelve such rooms, but the others are in stasis._

John couldn't do anything but turn around in circles, looking at them all with the goofiest grin on his face. Something tugged at him, causing him to slow to a stop. His head turned this way and that, before he turned completely around. "Is that?" The ship hummed an affirmative to him, and he stepped slowly toward one of the seeds.

Looking down at it, he felt the stirrings of a consciousness reaching out to him. Blinking, he looked at Donna. "C'mere." When she was by his side, they put an arm around each other. Tweaking their bond open wide, they reached out – his right hand, her left – and placed their palms on the football sized seed.

The Doctor had backed up to give them some space, and he felt Rose slide her arm around him. Watching, they saw John and Donna's heads rear back when their palms came in contact with the seed. Rose got his attention with a mental query, and he relayed what he knew about TARDIS coral and how they chose their pilots. However, when John and Donna appeared to fade out on them with their eyes closed, he was at a loss.

"Uhm, I have no idea," he confessed rather lamely.

* * *

John and Donna found themselves in a white space of nothingness. Before them sat what appeared to be a five year old, sandy haired boy playing with Roentgen blocks on the floor. He looked up at them and smiled. "Hello. Matron said you would be coming. I'm the eldest and was given the first choice."

Standing, he tottered over to take John's hand. "She said you were lonely, but you have her?" he said confusedly, pointing at Donna.

"It's not the same, young one," a voice said from behind them. Donna turned to see the TARDIS avatar smiling at them. "They are bound as their species dictates."

"Is there room for me?" he asked her, a bit fearful that he was too late.

Smiling, she nodded. "Ask them."

Peering up at them with large eyes, the boy reached out to take Donna's hand as well. "I know I'm not old enough yet, but would you be my friends? When I get bigger, I can take you anywhere you want to go."

"Of course we will," John and Donna said together without hesitation. The boy smiled wide and bounced up and down, then hugged them both as best as he could, laughing.

* * *

Rose and the Doctor watched as the seed began to glow in between John and Donna's hands. "Oh my," the Doctor whispered, recognition twinging within him. "This is like the days of old," he commented, then wondered why he said that.

"I can hear him," Rose said with a smile. "He's singing!"

* * *

The door to the console room opened, and Joshua stuck his head inside to see if the coast was clear. Smiling at the now familiar room, he walked to the console. "Hello, dear. Could you do us a favour and deadlock the inner doors please?" The ship hummed, and the sounds of several door locks double clacking could be heard quite plainly.

Joining him at the console, Romana and Celeste inspected the controls. "Much better," Romana praised. "That clutter was getting on my nerves." Pausing, she tilted her head. "Why is that control a glass paperweight?"

"Mum likes it," Joshua said with a grin. "Says it adds colour, but I think it reminds her of the first time she was in here. Dad was being full of himself at the time, and was playing with it when he asked her where she wanted to go first."

They heard a rather large crackle coming from outside, and Jenny walked through the doors with Geoff and Jack on each arm. She looked to be very relaxed, and had a 'cat that got the cream' smile on her face.

"Have a good time?" Joshua asked with a smirk.

"We went dancing," Jenny said with a blissful sigh.

"I got kidnapped," Jack said with a shrug.

Romana was surprised. "How long were you away?"

Geoff and Jack looked at Jenny, who tilted her head and converted calendars. "Sixteen days," she said quickly.

"Took that long to rescue him and bring down the ring of baddies that grabbed him," Geoff said with a grin.

Jack looked over at Geoff. "You know, that was _so_ redundant, especially _there_."

"Well, you _are_ rather pretty," Geoff replied cheekily.

Letting go of them, Jenny walked up to Joshua and gave him a hug. "You were brilliant! Thanks for that."

"I don't think I've done anything… _yet_," Joshua said with a smirk.

Pulling back, Jenny kissed the tip of his nose. "Nope. Just know that the two of you will be brilliantly helpful." She turned her head to give Romana a meaningful look with that.

While Romana arched a brow at her, Celeste went over and cupped Geoff's cheek. "Hello, my lovely. Are you all right?"

Geoff's voice was quaky. "Grams," he said before hugging her tight. "Oh, I _missed_ you. Is there any other way?" he whispered. She shook her head and held him close. Closing his eyes, he buried his face in her shoulder, shaking.

The inner door to the corridors rattled, drawing their attention. It unlocked itself, and Mickey came through with Martha right behind him. "Who locked the bleedin' door?" Mickey complained, then saw the others in the room. "Oh."

Slightly alarmed, Martha shut the door rather quickly. After it locked itself again, they went over to the others at the console. "So this is it, yeah?" Seeing the look on Geoff's face, she felt guilty. "Sorry."

"It's all right," he whispered. Letting up on the hug, he looked around at everyone while wiping his face. "Really wish mom could be here." Jenny hugged him from behind with that. His eyes rolled back when he felt her strength and love flow over him.

Mickey tilted his head, confused. "I just realized something. Why do you have an American accent? I mean, I can sort of understand him having one, but you?"

Geoff grinned weakly. "Grew up in a colony of Yanks. After so long, the phrasing gets twisted around." Tilting his head to crack his neck, he tried for some levity. "Course, I _could_ sound like anyone I put my mind to, me," he said with a Manchester accent. "Me Da always said to say what you mean, and mean what you say." His voice then changed completely to mimic John. "Fantastic," he grinned.

"Okay, that was weird," Martha said, eyeing him.

"Worse when Rose sounds like the Doctor," Mickey commented with a shrug.

Joshua was at the main keyboard at this point, typing. "What all do you need me to do, dear? You were a bit fuzzy with the details."

_Set it to activate, _the ship said. _I'll handle the rest._

Nodding, Joshua opened the protocols for the Chameleon Arch, then pulled his hands to his chest and simply watched the screen. Blinking, his eyebrows raised when he saw the plethora of code that was scrolling. "Really?" He looked up to Jack. "You still have your telepathy? I never realized."

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "Thought I went to a school to control it, but with this I'm not sure about anything now."

"You didn't," Geoff said quietly. There was a soft clink, and he looked up to see the Arch lower itself from the ceiling. Jenny squeezed him tighter in support when he started shaking again. "Oh, _cosmos_, this is gonna hurt," he whispered in a mix of John and Donna's accents.

Turning him around, Jenny kissed him. _'I'll be here when it's over. I love you so much.'_

_'Never thought it would be this way,'_ he said. _'I mean, you know what I mean.'_

Jack, doing his best to be supportive, hugged them both. After a bit, he kissed him as much as Jenny had. _'Everything you will do will be important. Remember that.'_

"Oh, now that's just _wrong_," Mickey said quietly, completely appalled at such a thing.

Martha tilted her head. "I dunno, I could stand to look at it some more," she said with a smirk. "Gwen's gonna be beside herself for missing it, though."

They glanced over to Celeste, who was wagging a finger at them with a small smile on her face. "Shush."

Moving him to the side a bit, Jack and Jenny put the Arch on Geoff's head. Panting now, Geoff was starting to panic. "I don't wanna go," he said under his breath. Jenny hugged him again and snogged him for all she was worth.

Minutes passed before they broke apart. "I'll be right here, waiting for you. I promise."

Joshua was next to them at this point, and he looked at Jack with a glance at Jenny. He got the hint and pulled her back a bit. Standing in front of Geoff now, he grinned. "See you soon, Willoughby."

"Later, George," Geoff replied with a chuckle. "Surprised you remember that."

"Mind like a steel trap, me," Joshua smiled.

Looking up with his eyes, he caught the pun. "I can't believe you said that, jackass." His mood a bit lighter, Geoff stood straighter. Nodding at everyone when Joshua stepped back, he closed his eyes. "HIT ME!" he yelled.

A blue column of light flashed around him, protecting him and the others with a force field, and a staticy sounding loud buzz started up. Geoff's face twisted into a wince and Jenny flinched forward instinctively, but was held back by Jack – who was gaping at what was happening with his mouth wide open.

He lasted all of five seconds, before he started screaming from the pain. His hands went up to grip the sides of the device on his head, and began to convulse.

Martha turned away and tried to hide herself in Mickey's arms. Mickey was horrified, and held his hands over her ears.

Similarly, Romana turned to Joshua, and he held on to her, cringing at that sounds and psychic backwash of horrific pain. Celeste stood alone and wrapped her arms around herself, crying as quietly as she could.

"LOOK AT ME!" Jenny shouted at him. "GEOFF!" she shrieked. Of everyone in the room, she felt the worst of it. His pain however, was nothing compared to the feeling of his mind being compressed and ebbed away, taking him from her. "I love you," she said through her tears, when he opened his eyes. Her crying got worse when she could see the light of his eyes fade, forgetting her.

Geoff's eyes rolled back in his skull as he passed out. The forcefield vanished just in time for Jenny to reach out and catch him. "I've got you, baby, I've got you." On the floor, she cradled him to her and broke down, sobbing.

Kneeling down, Jack held on to her from behind. "I'm still here, sweetheart. I'll never leave you." Jenny turned her head and kissed him, not letting go of Geoff.

Everyone else was in similar states of shock. Martha, having lived through this before, jumped out of Mickey's arms and ran around the console to take Geoff's vitals. "One pulse: Strong." Palming his forehead, she nodded. "He doesn't feel cold, so his temperature should be close to normal for human. He's going to be fine, Jenny, I promise."

Above them, Joshua disconnected the fob watch from the Arch. Holding it to his temple, he grinned pensively. "He's in there. Or rather, I should say _you're_ in there, Jack."

Jack and Jenny broke their kiss. Staring at her, Jack's voice was shaky. "Will I change much?" he asked.

Martha looked at him. "John Smith was the Doctor without all the baggage. From what I've seen, Geoff didn't have a lot of baggage. Besides, your situations are reversed. He was John Smith for such a short amount of time compared to the Doctor."

"She's right," Joshua said, kneeling next to them. "You've lived longer as Jack Harkness than you ever did as Geoffrey Noble. And, from what I could see from the programming that the TARDIS did to the Arch, most everything is the same between you. You _are_ Geoff Noble, only with a single heartbeat and not as much knowledge. Your personality wasn't altered… at _all_. The only thing that will change appreciably, is your understanding of Time and Space, along with a few senses that you've been deprived of.

"You don't need to fear it," Joshua finished, holding the watch up for them to see. "You'll still be you, but I think you two will be even closer once everything is said and done," he said with a head tilt towards Jenny.

Looking back at Jenny, he searched her eyes. "_Please_, Jack," she begged him. "What we have is good, but there is So. Much. _More_. You were the same, you _know_ this. Please don't be afraid."

"I'm not," he lied. Turning his head up, he took the fob watch from Joshua. "What do I do with it? Why can I even see it? I…" his voice faded out as he heard his own voice coming from the watch. _'Open me, Jack. We're the same. Be who you were meant to be. Love your wife. I'm you.'_

His thumb circled the edge, not noticing that Joshua and Martha pulled Jenny and Geoff away from him, then it drifted to the release button of its own accord. Before he knew he was doing it, the watch flipped open.

Eyes wide, Jack felt something slide into place in his mind, crumbling the wall. He began to vibrate as the energy released his cells from their prison.

Everyone watched as the light spewed out from the watch and entered Jack through his eyes. Martha smiled, seeing the same look of wonder on his face that the Doctor had. Expecting it, she wasn't surprised when his body went rigid.

Completely torn, Jenny was grateful that Joshua was holding Geoff, when she shot over to stop Jack's head from hitting the floor. She could feel it happening again, only in reverse. His mind was expanding to surround hers, and she kissed him when she felt the real bond reinforce itself. She only stopped kissing him when his body stopped twitching.

"Hello, gorgeous," Jack whispered, opening his eyes. "I had no idea," he said in awe. "I missed you, but didn't know who you were. Kept searching, even when I was stranded. Honestly thought you were Rose for a while, but all that changed when you pulled my mind into yours over a month ago." He kissed her again, tenderly. _'Oh, I missed you.'_

Relieved beyond anything she could describe, Jenny started crying happy tears. _'It was horrible,'_ she told him. _'Feeling that happen to you was the worst thing, even more than when you had your head cut off. That was quick in comparison. Can we not do anything like that again for a billion years?'_ she pleaded.

His chuckle at that broke their kiss. "I wont promise anything. That'll guarantee everything will go straight to hell."

"How you feeling?" Joshua asked him.

Sitting up, Jenny and Joshua helped him to his feet. "You know? Not bad."

"So, uhm," Mickey fidgeted, "what do we call you now?"

He turned and smiled a thousand watts at him. "I've been Jack Harkness for far longer than Geoff Noble. Keep calling me Jack. Nothing's changed between us, Mickey Mouse. Well, not much. Wont be begging you to bed any more, but that wont stop me from admiring your bum every now and then," he winked at him.

Mickey's face at that caused a bit of a riot of laughter from everyone in the room. If anything it defused the tense atmosphere.

Snickering, Joshua motioned to his left. "Right then. Romana and Grams are with me. We need to drop him off in the future. Jack, where did you wake up after this?"

Blinking, Jack's eyes went wide when he remembered. "Oh, _no_…" Everyone stared at him in surprise as he actually flushed pure scarlet. Looking down at Geoff, he scowled. "You _bastard!_" Jenny's giggling at his expense didn't make him feel any better, either.


	18. Interesting Conversations

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Eighteen  
- Interesting Conversations -_

* * *

_**A/N:** This would be the beginning of part two, if it were on screen. Oh, google Chris Blackwell's Time Travel songs. Interesting take on the Doctor Who theme._

* * *

Romana's head spun as she, Joshua, and the unconscious Geoff materialized. Celeste had opted out of the excursion, stating that she had to concern herself more with the present than the past. Inner ears completely out of sorts, Romana ended up on her bum. Her mood wasn't strengthened by Joshua's snickering. "Be quiet," she grumbled.

"I just find it interesting how a woman of your stature could be completely discombobulated by something as simple as a vortex manipulator," he grinned. Settling Geoff on the ground, he did a perfunctory check of Romana's vitals.

She slapped his hands away. "Time travel without a capsule is enough to make anyone want to vomit," she groused. Looking up, her mood soured even worse. "Except for you, apparently."

Smirking, Joshua stood back up. "Mind him for a moment. I'll handle the accommodations."

As he walked away, Romana pulled Geoff around so she could place his head in her lap. Satisfied that he was more or less all right, she looked up to assess their location while her head and stomach quieted down. Lovell's Point was one of the smaller planets in the Mutter's Spiral. Interestingly enough, while the dwarf planet was close to the outer edge of the galaxy, it was also very near the equidistant point between Earth and the former location of Gallifrey.

Mostly a rest stop between various systems, Lovell's Point was a place where travellers could get fuel, provisions, and a semblance of entertainment. The backstreet where she found herself was more of an alley between buildings. Not overtly dirty, yet there were the typical unpleasantries that such a location would have, no matter the location. The rubbish bin she was leaning against was the forefront of the assault on her sense of smell. "The things I do for you, Doctor," she muttered while running her thumb over Geoff's brow.

It was so odd to think that the confluence of time lines that she found herself in was something that could be beneficial. If anything, they gave her a headache. Studying Geoff's face, she could actually see both John and Donna's genetics. His hair, cleft chin, and blue eyes if they were open, her facial bone structure and pigmentation... And, if his attitude was anything to go by, both of their personalities mixed together. It was interesting to see at the very least.

Joshua's footsteps brought her out of her analysing, and she looked up to see that annoying grin of his, no matter how handsome it was. "Everything settled?" she asked him.

"Absolutely," he winked. Reaching down, he pulled Geoff into a seated position, then waited for Romana to get up. Between them, they had his arms over their shoulders and walked him towards the backwater hotel.

Romana caught herself glancing at Joshua more than once, and she had to force herself to stay on topic. "Any idea how long it will be before he wakes up?"

"About four hours, give or take," he answered.

* * *

In the hub it was the following morning, and Jack was pulling Jenny through an impromptu dance step. More formal than club, he twirled her with her hand over her head. Both were beaming with their happiness and were so focussed on each other, that they missed hearing the main door roll open.

Coming into the hub, Gwen stopped abruptly just past the bars. Seeing the two of them dancing as they were made a warm smile go over her face. Crossing her arms, she leaned against the cage of the door and simply watched them.

"Good Lord," Ianto mumbled from behind her.

Gwen looked over her shoulder to see the look of surprise on Ianto's face. "Looks like it worked, yeah?"

Smirking, Ianto called out to the couple. "You know, technically there's supposed to be music."

Jenny was pulled into a spin and landed her back against Jack's chest. "Who needs music?" she quipped, turning her smile on them.

"Oh my God, that's disgusting," Gwen said with a chuckle. "Too much cheerfulness this early in the morning. There are rules, you know." Despite the words, she was actually relieved to see them this way. "Grumpiness; Coffee; Social Niceties; That's how things work, remember?"

"High on life," Jack said without a hint of remorse. "I know who I am; I know how things will go; part of it will suck, but overall? Yeah. Life's good."

The sound of Ianto's mouth closing was punctuated by the clacking of his teeth. "I'm going to go make coffee before I vomit," he rumbled. That said, he walked rather quickly past everyone. However, he wasn't quick enough to escape a small pinch to his posterior from Jenny. Spinning without stopping, he flicked the back of her shoulder as he went by. He could be heard muttering 'insufferable' as he went down the short stair.

"Did I hear the word coffee?" Martha said from the door of the TARDIS. While she was dressed for work, she was a bit bleary. Still though, the look of hope on her face when she saw Ianto in the coffee cubby caused her to shuffle towards them. She was rather insistent with her mumbling words. "Coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee."

Mickey exited the TARDIS right after her, and snickered at the greedy noise Martha was making. Then he spotted Jack and Jenny. Eyebrows up, he watched as Jack let go of Jenny to spin Martha around.

"Morning Martha!" Jack said loudly. "How the hell are you this fine day?"

Spun before she had a chance to realize what was happening, Martha was completely off balance. "Whoa! Someone's in a good mood. How you feeling? Any after effects?"

Grinning, Jack shook his head rapidly. "Nope!" One final spin, and he nudged her towards the coffee machine. "Ianto! Incoming!"

"It has to brew first!" Ianto snapped. "Bloody hell, you know how this works. Go about your business. I'll bring it to you when it's done."

Still dizzy, Martha leaned on the railing and looked down at him with an outright pout. "But you always have it ready," she said rather pitifully.

Looking up, Ianto rolled his eyes. "Unlike some people, I actually went home to sleep. Go busy yourself with the muffin bag I left at the door, before Mickey swipes them all again."

Sufficiently distracted, Martha left him alone. "Oi! Hands off!" she shouted, startling Mickey into standing straight with said bag, one hundred percent red-handed. "Share!"

Fifteen minutes later, and coffee having been handed out, John was the next to show his face. "Mornin! How is everyone this fine day?"

The effect of hearing similar words out of Jack and John caused everyone to freeze momentarily. Jack and Jenny were in Jack's office at this point, and the rest of the team were looking back and forth between there and the TARDIS, warily.

"Freaky," Mickey muttered.

"Too much cheerfulness this early in the morning will bring Abaddon back," Gwen groused. "Stop it!" she demanded.

Chuckling, John went about the room. "Humans," he tittered. "Is that coffee I smell?"

"Dial it down a notch, and I'll make you a cup," Ianto bartered.

John came to a halt with his hands behind his back, nodding. Martha swivelled her chair around. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Got me own ship," John replied with a wide grin.

Frowning at how he was bouncing on his toes, Martha tilted her head. "Okay, I missed a step somewhere."

* * *

In the lift of the hotel, Romana was confused. "All right, I understand wiping the coordinates from the manipulator, but what was the meaning of the note you left?" She looked up to see Joshua leaning against the rail. "I mean, 'It wasn't your fault' doesn't seem all that explanatory."

"Has to do with what was programmed into his human persona," Joshua explained. "From his point of view, the Time Agency just gave him a two year mind wipe, along with identity deletion. He'll have muddled memories of someone getting him out of there, but wont remember who. All he'll know is that he was a friend who was on his side. The note is just a small confirmation that the Agency wiped him against his will, from some sort of false accusation that went very badly."

Romana was quietly thoughtful for a time. "Seems like a very convoluted way to get him where he needs to be," she said finally.

"Has to be this way," Joshua said with a shrug. "Otherwise, he'll never get a hold of that Chula ship." He looked over to her with a small smile. "Don't worry about it. We did what we needed to do to fulfil the recursive paradox. All we need to do now is leave the way we came and depart."

The lift doors opened on a small group of people and Donna's shocked face.

"Bollocks," Joshua muttered.

* * *

"So, how many of these seeds does the TARDIS have now?" Martha asked. The idea of the TARDIS getting her 'mack on' without anyone knowing was a bit surprising.

John took his coffee gratefully from Ianto and had a seat on the couch. "Thank you. Twelve rooms with six each, so seventy two in all. Only one room is active at the moment though. The rest are in stasis."

"That's a lot of ships," Mickey said from his station. "So, how long before yours is fully grown?"

"That depends," Donna said as she entered the hub from the blue box. "We can set him to mature faster than normal, but I don't know the complete rate just yet. We've been discussing that all night, and John's been expanding my original hypothesis."

"We could cheat," John offered, then frowned at Donna's scowl. "I know, I know. Have to have a buffer or he'll run off himself. Working on that."

Grumbling a sigh, Donna turned to Martha. "I need your help."

Looking up at her for the first time since she came in, Martha stifled a snort at the sight of Donna's hair. The unruliness was completely dreadful. "Yeah. I think you do," she said with a smirk. "Let's get you somewhere to deal with that."

"The brush just isn't doing it any more," Donna complained. "What the hell am I doing wrong?"

Eyes wide, Martha stood up. "Well, that's your first mistake, there. You need a pick, dear."

"I'm not going mining," Donna said in confusion. "I want my hair to behave!"

* * *

Laying crossways over her husband, Rose was rather deep in slumber while listening to the Doctor's hearts. Not completely prone, the pair of them were propped up by a small plethora of pillows that the ship added when the two of them became more balanced. Now that he wasn't taking everything into himself, Rose needed a bit more creature comforts.

With a set of reading glasses perched on his nose, the Doctor was going over volume three of Gallifreyan procreation. The stages of gestation was fascinating on an intellectual level, but the reality seemed to be a bit off par. Truthfully, he wanted to go back in time to slap the writer, since the entire set of books weren't quite complete with their descriptions. Most notably, the lack of detail in dealing with symptoms from either parent.

Hearing a low murmur, the Doctor set the book on the bedside table. "You all right?"

"Mrrr," Rose grumbled. Instead of a real answer, she held him tighter and tried to bury her face in his chest.

Her annoyance with her bladder was felt by him. "Right, c'mon. Upsie-daisy," he prodded. It took a bit, but eventually she was upright and dashed to the loo with a swear at him. Smirking at the sight of her pink oversized tee nightshirt, he laughed when she flipped him off before shutting the door.

_'Don't like being up,'_ she complained. _'Light makes noise; the floor's cold; this seat is freezing; and stop laughing at me!'_

Grinning, he couldn't stop his giggles. _'Can't help it. You're so damned adorable in the morning.'_

_'Shu'up.'_

_'You are!'_ he reiterated. _'Blimey, I can't help it if everything you do makes me smile.'_

_'You're laughing at my misery though. Not helpful, that,'_ she complained.

_'Sorry. It's just been a while since you've had a bad morning. Honestly, I kinda missed your little annoyed noises over a morning cuppa.'_

The door opened. "What is it about that, that's so adorable?" Rose grumbled. She slipped under the covers and immediately shoved the soles of her feet into his calves.

"Oi!" he complained at the abrupt temperature drop.

"Told you," she grinned as she wormed her backside up against his hip. "Warm me back up?"

* * *

Blinking at the two Time Lords in the lift, Donna turned to the others. "Right, you lot. Up to the rooms and get settled. Dave, handle my baggage, would you? I need to grab something from the bar. Bloody starving."

"Sure, Professor Song," Dave said, taking her bag.

Once Joshua and Romana traded places with the small entourage and the lift closed, Donna turned on Joshua. "Who the hell are you?"

Lips pursed, Joshua stuck his chin out awkwardly with his cringe. "Spoilers?"

Frowning at that, she turned to Romana with a glare. "Explain. Now."

"You know better than that, Donna," Romana chastised. "You're in your loop, we're in ours."

"Professor Song, or River at this point," she corrected. Looking her up and down, Donna noticed her footwear. "Didn't you break those boots?" Blinking abruptly, she realized something. "You did, the heel, two weeks ago while you were..." Her eyes widened. "Oh damn, it's now and he's here."

Holding her hand up, Romana shook her head. "We're out of synch. You're reaction suggests I told you something when I got back. Say it now, so we can leave. I've truly had enough of causality to last several lifetimes."

"You only mentioned running into me," Donna said. "That's all."

"Liar," Joshua said with a smirk.

Frowning, something clicked in Donna's head. Opening up her senses fully, she studied him. Mouth dropping open, she invaded his personal space and looked up at his eyes. "I can see it," she grinned. "Oh, they're going to just _love_ you." Hugging him, she chuckled. "Pleasure to meet you, nephew. Do you go by your first or second name?"

"Spoilers," Joshua chuckled, taking the hug gladly. "Oh, and don't mind anything he says. He'll suffer later for it, I promise. Have you met up with Mr. Lux yet?"

"In the morning," Donna said, stepping back. "So, when do I see the hapless?"

"In about four hours," he said.

Donna sighed. "It's weird. John and I know that he's a Time Lord, but he's so tight lipped about things that he wont tell us who he is."

"Spoilers," Joshua reiterated.


	19. Smith and Jones

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Nineteen  
- Smith and Jones -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write.  
The Wibblies... they Wobble, but they wont fall down._

* * *

The new year of 2010 having rolled over, January seemed to speed along for some. For others though, it appeared to outright crawl. The second week in, Rose's condition made her more than irritable. This of course was equally felt and expressed by her husband. More than once, the Doctor went on a rant over the imperfections of humanity, and insulted the entire species at complete random – which in retrospect wasn't that unusual. His methods _were_, however.

This 'colourful' time was punctuated by him swearing in multiple languages. His favourites were using Italian for Mickey… (_because it was funny_); Interlac for Jack; Welsh for Ianto, Gwen, and Rhys; and High Gallifreyan for both John and Donna. Rose was the only one not inundated, but what made it worse was when she took up the banner and joined him in the verbal abuse.

Needless to say, everyone was grateful that it only lasted fourteen days. While they were beyond apologetic afterwards, the others were somewhat understanding. Celeste had relayed that this was part of the process; and had they not been bound, it would have been ten times worse from just Rose.

To make it up to everyone, the Doctor and Rose made good on the Doctor's promise to Janet over Christmas. Together, just the two of them without any weapons, went through Cardiff and South Wales while broadcasting an empathic signal. Like a pair of pied pipers, they communicated their intention of leading the Scorx (Weevils) back to their home planet. The TARDIS provided enough room, and had the main door open into a sub section recreational park that was designed for the purpose.

Surprisingly enough, the TARDIS cooperated in transporting them to exactly where the Doctor intended, some thousand years after the Sycorax left their world. It was green again, and more than tolerable. Rose spent the time in the Zero Room while in flight and really didn't like it. The lack of gravity made her stomach even more problematic. Donna wasn't thrilled either. Only their company with each other mollified things.

January twenty ninth proved to be exceptional: Mickey's Stag and Martha's Hen Parties. The Hen night was held at Francine's house, and the initial location for the Stag was shot down. Jack was annoyed. Still, seeing as how he was technically 'on the fence', he attempted to cheer himself up by attending the Hen Party. He was further annoyed when that was shot down rather pointedly by both Donna and Jenny.

* * *

In one of the better hole in the wall pubs, Jack had bought out the place for the night. The music was loud; there were three different matches on telly; and the pints were flowing. Mickey loved it, even though his team lost.

Just to be hilarious, Jack did something that everyone expected and twisted it on its head. At first, everyone was annoyed when the 'cake' was rolled out onto the floor. Jack just grinned when the glare from the five other men hit him. Shrugging, he gestured over to where the cake was. Instead of some bombshell bimbo popping out of the cake to twirl her tassels, it was a middle aged _drag queen_ – complete with a pink wig, a ghastly purple and pink cabaret outfit, and a frilly pink shawl thingie.

Jack and John fought to keep Mickey in his seat, and literally handcuffed him to the chair.

* * *

At the Hen Party, it was a more reserved affair with respects to Francine and Celeste. Sylvia attended as well, much to everyone's surprise. Drinks were out of the question for at least three of them, so the others opted out of champagne as well. Jenny introduced them to vanilla ice cream pop. Root beer in this case, and something she discovered through Jack – who called it a 'root beer float'.

Presents were the main attraction, and Martha was actually crimson with some of the more lurid underclothes that she'd received. The worst was from Tish, who got an actual beating with the corset that she'd given her – while the others laughed like mad from the sight of the pink polka dot cup-less contraption. Celeste thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen, while Romana was completely scandalized.

In the middle of all of this, Rose, Donna, and Jenny grew quiet and tilted their heads in unison. Martha was about to ask them what was wrong, when all three of them snickered before cackling outright. Rose ended up holding her baby bump from laughing so hard that it hurt.

Donna was finally able to tell them about the drag queen, and how he was embarrassing the hell out of Mickey with a pink ruffle. Phones came out from the others' pockets with text messages vying for pictures.

Gwen got hers first, and shared the picture Rhys sent her. The sight of the fifty some odd year old drag queen done up in a pink and purple cabaret outfit, half straddling Mickey's chair – _plus the sight of Mick completely horrified from the crotch being nearly in his face_ – brought the entire house down.

* * *

Saturday had been set aside for recovery. _Well_, for the humans at least. John and the Doctor had this day set aside for something rather special. Keeping something like this a surprise was rather difficult, since the parties involved were both telepathic, _and_ their bonded pairs.

Ironically, Sylvia was the one that pointed out the need for it. The nabbing of Donna's finger with the question of 'When is this going to happen?' brought it into a rather painful focus.

The brothers set about their creations together on Boxing Day, mostly so that they wouldn't make the same thing. Gold, a small smeltery, some sonic jiggery pokery, and some gemstones were the focus.

John looked over at his brother. "You ready for this?" he smirked.

Snorting, the Doctor just grinned at him. "This is a formality I'm rather embarrassed to have missed in the first place. So, yes."

Together, they mentally called Jack and Jenny to them. After their arrival and quiet explanations were made, they called to their significant others.

Rose and Donna met each other in the corridor, looking confused and suspicious as hell.

"What are those two up to?" Donna asked.

Shrugging, Rose simply waved her on. "Ya got me. They both've been working on something, so there's no tellin'."

Letting their beloved ship guide them, they came to the large and unevenly curved door of the Gallifrey Garden. A quick look at each other, and they pushed their way through to find that the garden was in its night cycle.

Phosphorescent plants and grasses couldn't lead them anywhere, no matter how pretty they were. Instead of calling out, Rose sent out a telepathic equivalent of radar. Grinning when she found their location, she led Donna through the various paths.

Coming over a slight hill, they found the pair of them standing formally in front of a rather large silver leafed tree, with their hands clasped behind their backs. What was surprising, was the fact that both of them were wearing long tailed tuxedos. John's cravat was blue, while the Doctor's was red.

"Oh, _damn_," Rose mumbled at the sight of her husband looking completely _yummy_.

Donna glanced at her. "Ohhhh, I do hope you'll forgive me, because I don't think I'll be able to stop myself from snogging that man."

"S'long as it's _your_ bloke, I don't care," Rose answered quickly and quietly.

When they got closer, they both looked to their right and saw Jack and Jenny off to the side, grinning their faces off. Turning back to the men, Rose and Donna were in synch by complete accident. "What's all this?" they asked.

Solemn faced, John and the Doctor stepped forward, separating a bit. When they were at an angle with each other, Rose and Donna turned to them and away from each other. Both of them knelt on their right knee, and brought their hands forward – opening a red felt box with a pair of clicks that sounded like one in stereo. Both of the women gasped.

"During all of our time together," the Doctor started.

"we have both done something unthinkable," John finished the sentence.

"Rather than blundering on like a pair of righteous idiots, we decided to solve the problem," the Doctor continued.

John smirked, "by honouring your traditions. So with apologies to the belated question…"

Both of them took the rings from their velvet boxes, took the left hand of their stunned spouses and placed the rings up to the first knuckle of their ring fingers.

"Rose Marion Tyler," the Doctor said quietly.

"Donna Michelle Noble," John said with just as much reverence.

They asked this question at the same time. "Would you do us the honour of becoming our lawfully wedded, pair bonded wife; binding yourself to me for eternity?"

Blinking away some tears, Rose looked over her shoulder, "Hmm, I dunno. What'd'you think Donna?"

"They _are_ a pair of right morons," Donna answered over her shoulder just as cheekily tear faced. "Should we?" They left them hanging for a beat, then turned to their husbands.

"Do you have _any_ idea how long I've been waiting for you to _ask_ me?" Rose blurted rather loudly. "_Yes_, dammit!" she said with a wide smile.

Donna smirked at John. "I _already_ said yes, sweetie. But thank you _ever_ so much for asking me twice."

Both rings were put in place, and there was a loud whoop from Jack. "YES! IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME, TIME LORD!"

Both of the girls flinched from the noise, then were picked up in swirling hugs. The sneaky blocks dropped from the boys minds, and they saw just how much thought they put into this.

Jack turned to Jenny. "Rings, studs, torques, or bracelets?" Jenny pretended to think about that for a second, then held up her left ring finger. "Good, we're on the same wavelength," he grinned and slid a diamond solitaire on said finger.

Giggling, Jenny leaned up to kiss him. _'Feel better now that you're not going to be an actual bastard?'_ she asked him. All he did was snort, before turning to look at the others.

"You were waiting on us?" The Doctor asked.

Snickers went around when Jack and Jenny nodded their heads rapidly.

* * *

A small and quaint church was the focal point of Sunday, and the morning was a blur of activity. Mickey was going round in circles, while Rose and the Doctor did their best to keep him calm. Martha was much the same with John, Donna and Tish running interference with Francine when she became too unbearable. The two parties were in separate sections on opposite sides of the church.

"Will you calm down?" Rose complained. "You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm!" Taking Mickey by the shoulders, she forced him to sit down. He lasted four seconds before he was up again.

"I dunno, might be a neat party trick if the groom literally pops his top at the altar," the Doctor grinned cheekily while fixing Mick's cravat. "Seriously though, mate, you could power the TARDIS with all that nervous energy. Not having second thoughts, are we?"

"Not bloody likely!" Mickey complained loudly in a high register. "Too scared of bollocksing the whole thing up!"

Eyebrows up, Rose saw Jack through the door and put her fingers to her lips. One shrill whistle and Jack entered the room. "Liquid courage, and hurry!"

"_Blimey_, Rose. Taking tips from Donna?" The Doctor said, wiggling a finger in his ear.

Just the sight of Mickey was enough to make him laugh. But Jack controlled that enough to pull out a small flask. "Two gulps, that's it. Anything more, and you'll be slurring your vows."

Mickey swiped it out of Jack's hands and unscrewed the top. One swallow had his face contort, coughing. "What the hell's in that?"

"Bourbon," Jack said with a grin. "Hundred year old stock I keep for special occasions. Just one more and then sit."

The second helping didn't evoke a strong reaction this time, and Mickey took a seat with a gusting of breath. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up."

"Alan Shepard, good choice," the Doctor chuckled.

"You'll do fine, Mick," Rose said, rubbing his shoulder. "Just remember to breathe, and don't lock your knees."

* * *

The door to the bride's room opened, and John and Donna exited while holding Francine up by her arms. Depositing the protesting woman on the floor, they blocked her re-entry. "Get out of my way!"

"No," they said at once. Tish closed the door behind them.

"I'm her _mother_!"

"And you're makin' it worse!" John shouted back at her.

Donna's hand was up. "Let Gwen and Tish do their jobs," she said quietly. "No arguing, no fighting, no suggestions. This is _her_ day. Let her have it like she wants, or she'll hate you for a _long_, long time."

Francine's mouth opened and closed a few times, then she blinked back some tears. "She's my youngest, my baby," she said quietly. "I want it to be _perfect_."

"It will be," Donna said with a small grin. "There's a reason for the phrase: 'Too many cooks spoil the broth.' You're cooking style conflicts with the head chef. And in case you didn't realize… _Martha_ is the head chef today."

Mumbling and scowling, Francine gave her a dark look. "I'm regretting teaching you how to do your hair."

Smirking now, Donna gave her hair a bounce with her left hand. "I dunno, I kinda like it being a bit blondish."

"Four to Six," John deadpanned, and got a small smack on the arm. "Rather grateful you didn't go after the technicolour dream coat as well," he grinned.

* * *

Inside the room, Tish was blotting Martha's eyes with a tissue. "Nerve of that woman, causing your make-up to run," she grumbled. "Crap. Okay, let's do this again." Turning Martha towards the vanity, Tish bent a bit to do Martha's eyes from behind her.

They looked at each other through the mirror, and Martha grinned. "Remember doing this when we were kids."

"Made her _so_ mad," Tish smirked, then focused on reapplying the mascara.

Gwen sat next to them, smiling conspiratorially. "How old were you?"

Martha eyed her from the side, trying not to snicker. "She was fourteen, I was twelve, and we both had enough of looking like skinny boys with natty hair."

"We got some hair relaxant and did up enough make-up to look like a pair of clowns," Tish snickered.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," Martha grinned.

Tish looked at Gwen, and pointed at her own eyelid. "Periwinkle Blue."

"Hers or yours?" Gwen asked, trying not to snicker.

"Both," they said though their giggles.

* * *

The ceremony itself was traditional. All of the men were in fancy tailed tuxes, with purple cravats, while the bridesmaids wore dark purple dresses. Odd to some, one of the bridesmaids was standing next to the groom, while a groomsman stood next to the bride. Rose was Mickey's 'Best Mate', while Jack was Martha's 'Man of Honour'.

The silence was deafening when the Vicar asked if there was anyone who thought they shouldn't be wed. It lasted five seconds before John spoke out of turn. "If anyone does, this whole congregation will beat them to death. Can we get on with this?" The tension of the moment broke with that abrupt announcement, and it took a bit for everyone to stop laughing before they could complete their vows.

The reception was held at the Walsh Mansion, in the Powell Estate – the first time the Doctor actually utilized the place. It was still odd to have been granted access or ownership of the place. But, with the magical PR power of Tish Jones, it had been turned into a perfect place for the reception.

Toasts, Father and Daughter Dance, the Tossing of the Bouquet and the Garter, _Jenny had the flowers land in her hands, while Jack got the other with a diving roll. _The entire evening was something to remember. Even still, with all of the well wishing and etcetera, the Doctor and Jenny both felt a heart wrenching pang coming from Rose.

Standing next to the dance floor, Rose felt her husband and daughter take each of her hands. The supportive emotions were well received, but she was getting rather knackered. A kiss to each, she went over to hug Mickey, then set about retiring for the night before her feet fell off. She waved off the Doctor, whom she knew wanted more to do with the cake and general pestering of the happy couple.

However, she couldn't dissuade Jenny nor Celeste in joining her in the TARDIS. Neither thought she should be left alone when she felt like that, and knew she was putting up an emotional front for her husband.

Once they were in the console room of the ship, Rose had to sit down. Plopping on the pilot's chair, she kicked her shoes off and sighed loudly. "It was lovely, wasn't it?"

"I thought it was brilliant," Jenny said. "Never seen a marriage quite like that before."

Celeste nodded. "I did once, a long time ago. But this one paled with the formality of that one."

"Whom did you see?" Rose asked, intrigued.

"Doromor and I sat in his stealthed TARDIS, and watched Prince Charles wed Lady Diana."

"Hooo, fancy is right with that one. I watched repeats of that. Now that was one _hell_ of a train on that dress." Despite the words, Rose wiped at her traitorous eyes.

Celeste sat next to her on the wide chair and rubbed Rose's back in circles. "I know I'm not her, darling, but I will do my best to make sure you do not miss anything traditional for yours."

That last bit of support broke her, and Rose started crying. "I miss her so _much_," she sobbed and was pulled into a hug with Celeste. Fretting, Jenny held on to both of them.

The humming in the room did a downward turn of sympathy, and the central column started moving on its own. This of course grabbed the three ladies undivided attention. "What'r'you doing?" Rose asked loudly.

* * *

In the main hall, the sound of the TARDIS engines starting up caused a bit of pandemonium. "Rose!" the Doctor shouted, running towards it from the far side of the room. He met Jack at the place where the TARDIS just vanished from.

"Oh, shit. _Now_ what?" Jack asked.


	20. TARDIS Knows Best

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Twenty  
- TARDIS Knows Best -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

* * *

As soon as the ship was in flight, Jenny jumped up and dead-lifted her mother, carrying her to the open door of the Zero Room in a dash. Once inside, Rose floated by the door and left it cracked a bit just to see what was going on. This had the additional plus of still being able to feel her very worried husband through their bond. "_Blimey_, had no idea you were that strong," Rose murmured, thoroughly impressed. Jenny just smiled pensively at her, then turned towards her grandmother.

Once she was satisfied that Rose was well, Celeste turned to the console. "Explain your actions."

_The time was prepared for, Matriarch, and now it is required,_ the TARDIS whispered.

"That was not an explanation," Celeste chastised. While she was concerned, there was still time to undo whatever the ship was planning. Still, the fact that she was able to do this on her own was startling. She'd never dealt with a time capsule this _wilful_ before.

_My Rose is despairing, and I'm giving her what she needs._

"And what does she need, specifically?" Celeste asked.

_She needs the one that has been her mother._

The phrasing was odd, yet comprehensible. Celeste went around to the coordinate interface to see about the destination. Brow furrowing, she turned to the Zero Room door and saw Rose peeking through the crack, with Jenny guarding the door. "Darling? What happened on Earth on the ninth of March, two thousand and five?"

Rose blinked and frowned. _Can't be._ She opened the door a bit wider. "More specifics," she requested.

Glancing at the interface, Celeste relayed the destination. "We're headed for Earth, Great Britain; London, Peckham; Powell Estate, Bucknall House; Flat forty eight. And a Wednesday, from the looks of it."

Sticking her head out of the Zero Room with shocked wide eyes, Rose was completely mortified. "WHAT ARE YOU _DOING_?" she screamed at the ship. "You _can't_ do that! Paradox! Reavers! Have you lost your _mind_? Are you _mental_?"

_Be at peace, My Rose. All will be well, _the ship soothed her with words and mental caressing._ You need her. The time was allotted in order for you to have this moment in your time of personal crisis._

"But… _Why_ this place and time? It doesn't make any sense," Rose was caught between relief and wanting to run for her life. _Or waddle,_ she thought to herself. Jenny reached over and placed a hand on her cheek, doing her best to be supportive.

"Rose," Celeste called from the console. "Please explain."

"The TARDIS is taking us to my mother's flat, a few days_ after_ I left with the Doctor for the first time," Rose panted as a nutter was threatening her. "That her _can't_ know what's going on!"

Celeste looked as if she had an epiphany. "This is the beginning of the time when you were misplaced by twelve months?" Seeing Rose nod rapidly, she began to smile. Patting the coral of the console, she chuckled. "You sly old thing. You knew she would need the time, and let everyone blame my son's bad driving. _Shame_ on you," she giggled.

"What?" Rose said.

"She _knew_," Celeste said, looking over at them while still rubbing the coral affectionately. "Don't worry about your mother knowing before her time. I or the ship can create a block that will enable her to function normally within her time-frame."

"You're sure?" Rose said disbelievingly. "At this point, we're _before_ the entire Bad Wolf incident. If there's even a _hint_ that things could go wrong, we need to _avoid_ going there. I don't care how much I miss my mum, I'm _not_ going to destroy my family and half the universe!"

The sound of the engines increased, and a coffee table materialized next to the other one. Seeing this, Rose swallowed. It was the one her mother got when they broke the old one, from getting that plastic arm off of the Doctor. There was a thunk as the ship landed. "Too late," she mumbled.

Hurrying around the console, Celeste flipped a switch. "I've decreased the external time differential. Jennifer, take your mother and get changed out of those dresses. I'll do my best to prepare Jackie."

"What?" Rose said as she stumbled into gravity again.

* * *

Back in 2010, the Doctor had closed his eyes to mentally ride along with Rose. Nodding at how Jenny got her into the Zero Room rather quickly, he listened to what was going on. Next to him, Jack was doing the same thing with Jenny. Across the room, John tapped into things with his brother and let Donna in on it.

"So, what's happening?" Ianto asked as he joined Jack and the Doctor.

"Apparently, the TARDIS decided Rose needed to be elsewhere," Jack said quietly.

"Dangerous?" Ianto asked.

The Doctor's eyes popped wide open. "I KNEW IT!" he shouted with a smile. "I _knew_ my driving wasn't that bad! Blimey though," he ran his hands in his hair. "Oh, I hope she knows what she's doing." He felt something snap and he winced. "Ow."

"Sonovabitch!" Jack shouted and grabbed his head.

"You two all right?" Ianto asked, concerned at how the both of them flinched and swore at the same time. Well, swear in Jack's case.

The Doctor stood there blinking, and shook his head. "No. The bond was just compressed."

"Almost feels like it's going through a lot of temporal interference," Jack said, shaking his head rapidly. "I need a drink."

"Exactly," the Doctor nodded. "Everything just twisted in on itself. Oh, thank you," he took the glass of scotch from his brother and sipped at it. "_Blimey_, my head's killing me now."

"Mine too. Thanks m-, _mmph_, Donna." Jack took the offered drink and downed it all at once, mentally slapping himself for almost spilling the beans. "Why don't we have a seat and just be here for Mickey and Martha's day. Doubt we can do anything else right now."

Nodding absently, the Doctor and Jack let John and Donna lead them over to one of the unused tables. Both of them were slightly dazed, but they kept up pretences and followed along with the party as best as they could.

* * *

_**9.3.2005**_

Jackie was lying on the couch and flipping channels. Daytime television was dismal as usual. Rose hadn't come home again last night, but did sound rather strange on the phone. Wednesday was her day off in the middle of the week from doing hair, so she was simply relaxing while the washing spun in the dryer. If Rose didn't come home tonight, she'd go pester Mickey.

The air in the room started to whip about like a window was open in the middle of a storm. The noise was strange, and something blue was just appearing in the middle of the living room. Mouth hanging open, Jackie simply stared wide eyed.

Once the noise and wind stopped, she carefully got up from the couch and inched her way backwards towards the kitchen and the phone. She'd seen pictures of police boxes before, but this was beyond unreal. As soon as she turned to enter the kitchen, a squeak of wood had her spin back around. She grabbed the broom completely out of reflex, and chastised herself for not finding something more hefty. Like, say, a bat or something more club-like. What's a broom handle going to do, besides be annoying?

The lady she saw looked a bit older than her, and was wearing a cream coloured dress. Finally finding her voice, she squeaked out a stuttering protest. "D-dunno who you are, and I don't care. Get that thing _outta_ my flat before I call the police!"

The lady just smiled. "Hello Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Prentice Tyler. My name's Celeste. May we talk?" Not liking how she was being received, she sent out a call to Rose. _'Darling, is there something I can do to convince your mother to calm down?'_

Rose's snort came through loud and clear. _'You find it, you let me know. If it helps, try talking about the Auton invasion from the weekend. That was her first experience with alien life. Shop dummies that moved. Still think that was a silly way of invading.'_

As non threatening as possible, Celeste turned and sat on the settee. "Not going to hurt you, my dear. Just talk. Is that all right?"

"Talk about what?" Jackie demanded. She looked from the back of the lady's head, to the police box, and then the rest of the room. The fleeting thought that she just went barmy went through her mind, and she was starting to wonder if she was being filmed.

Celeste looked over her shoulder with a smile. "Well, if you'll have a seat, we can talk about Rose."

Jackie popped up straight, and was in full mother bear mode. "What abou' her? She's not here. You leave her alone!"

"Oh, do _please_ have a seat," Celeste prodded. "Rose will be out in a moment, but we need to talk before she does."

"Wha', she's in there?" she waved the broom handle at the TARDIS. Moving sideways to keep this woman in her line of sight, Jackie eventually made it to the recliner and sat down. She was perched on the edge of the seat, ready to beat the life out of whatever or whomever, but she was down at least.

"That's better now, isn't it?" Celeste said with a wry grin. "Do you remember the mannequins moving about over the weekend?"

"Course I do!" Jackie glared. "Scared the life out of me. One fell over, and her head rolled away. No one was in them either, I looked. They weren't costumes."

"What if I were to tell you that they were able to move because of alien influence?" Celeste asked.

"I'd dial 999 and have you sectioned," Jackie said primly.

"How did I arrive?" Celeste asked with a bit of a smirk in her eyes.

Jackie looked at the blue box. "In that thing."

"How did it get in here?" she prodded.

Jackie shrugged. "No idea. Probably drugged me and had movers."

"Oh, for the love of _God_," Rose's voice carried outside the TARDIS, just before she peeked out of it. "Would you stop with the nutter talk, and act civil for once in your life? Would it _kill_ you?"

Jackie stood up, shouting. "Rose Marion Tyler, what the hell is going on? Where the hell have you been? Why'd you sound so odd on the phone? What's all this?"

Instead of answering right away, Rose simply smirked at her. Holding out her hand, she beckoned with a finger. "Come inside and find out. Leave the broom." She ducked back inside and made her way towards the living area of the console room.

Sitting at the couch that was along the wall, Rose had Jenny wait in the library. She was a complete mess of emotions, with happy and terrified at each others throats. Celeste said she could fix things, but this wasn't something she could justify to herself. Having nearly destroyed the world in simply trying to save her father's life, just talking with a past version of her mum was shattering her nerves.

Outside in the flat living room, Celeste broke the staring contest by rolling her eyes. "Oh, _cosmos_. Your daughter needs you, so enough of that. If you're worried about me, stop. I'd no more harm you than I would her. For the record, such as it is, I'm your in-law." Not bothering to explain that, she entered the TARDIS and left the door open.

Coming around slowly to look inside, Jackie was startled to see further in than she expected. Moving her head back and forth side to side, she looked into the box, then at the wall behind it several times. "Bev was right, I've lost it," she mumbled.

"Oh, would you get in here already?" Rose shouted.

Mad or not, that was Rose. Stepping inside, Jackie took in the strange sights and walked slowly. She didn't hear the door click closed behind her, and continued around the console to see Rose sitting with Celeste further in. Once she was in front of them, she looked around to the strange kitchen and the rest of the place, then sat down rather awkwardly on the other couch.

"Takes getting used to, I know," Rose said.

Jackie looked at her and tried to say something, only to have her mouth close again.

Seeing this, Rose turned to Celeste. "Mind making a spot of tea? This is going to take a bit." Celeste nodded and went to the kitchenette.

"I can make tea if you want any," Jackie whispered.

"S'ok, mum. You're thrown," Rose said gently. "Let us take care of you, while your wits try to come back."

"I'm not barmy," Jackie said quickly.

"Never said you were," Rose grinned. "But your sitting inside something that's in your living room. It looks bigger than the flat, but it's in your living room. First time for me, and I was back outside looking all around it for mirrors." Stopping, she smiled when she realized that it was just a few days ago, locally.

"Something's different about you," Jackie murmured. "You cut your hair. Thought you liked it longer, and where did you get the dye? Looks wonderful."

"Just older," Rose defended herself, tucking her legs in and slouching to hide her bump a bit more. Leaning against the arm rest helped a bit.

"Older how? You're nineteen, and..."

"Thirty three," Rose interrupted.

Jackie scoffed. "Don't be stupid."

Turning her head to look at the library door, Rose spoke up. "Jenny? Swee'hear', can you come say hello to your other grandmother?"

"Grandmother?" Jackie blurted. Looking at the door that Rose was staring at, she saw a blond head peek out. The smile reminded her of her own mother so strongly, it was like someone punched her gut.

Jenny came into the room and went directly to Jackie. "Hello, grams," she said brightly, then leaned down to hug her.

"You- She- _What_?" Jackie sputtered. "You said thirty three, but she looks to be almost in her twenties!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly carry her," Rose said quietly. "She's mine though. Don't ever doubt it."

"I can't. I can see Grammie Prentise all over her face, but… None of this is making sense!" she wailed.

Jenny turned and took the tea service from Celeste, and set it on the coffee table. "One lump or two? Cream?"

"Three," Jackie said absently, "and a dash. Lemon if you have it."

Rose started chuckling. "Oh, I missed you. Everything goes round the bend, but get some tea and everythin' will be fine."

"Don't laugh at me!" Jackie said hotly. "I just…" she trailed off when Jenny handed her a cup. Shaking her head to clear it, she sipped at the tea. "Oh, that's good," she mumbled. Seeing that everyone was seated with tea in hand, Jackie finally leaned back. "All right. Start at the beginning."


	21. Jackie

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Twenty One  
- Jackie -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write. Added a poll to my bio page. Put in your two cents on how you'd react to Celeste/Wilfred.  
_

* * *

There was a bit of awkward silence in the room. Rose just sat there, staring at Jackie for a moment. Blinking when she came up with nothing, she turned to Celeste. "Uhm, how much can I say? I _so_ don't want to mess this up."

"Mess what up?" Jackie asked. She had her teacup half covering her face, which was a bit of a self defensive manoeuvre, glancing back and forth between the three other women in the room. Rose looked lost and a bit scared, but Jenny – her _granddaughter_ – had a secret little smile on her face. The other woman, Celeste, had a look of patience about her. She saw her nod to Rose encouragingly, then gave Jackie a pensive grin.

Steeling herself, Rose held her cup in front of her. The position further camouflaged her stomach, and she was doing her best to breathe. When that didn't work, she switched to her bypass. Feeling Jenny rub her upper back got a grin, and she flashed a small smile of gratitude to her. Looking back at Jackie, she tried to explain.

"Mum, remember you tellin' me how Grammie and Granddad Prentise didn't really approve of Dad?" _That wasn't oblique at all, _she thought.

Jackie gave her a confused look. "Yeah, what about it?"

Rose bit her lip then went into it. "I'm going to give you a hypothetical."

She screwed her face up. "Hypo-_what_?"

Rose sighed. "_Pretend_ for a moment."

"Oh, all right," Jackie nodded.

Inhaling, she tried again. "Suppose for a moment, that you were able to go back to 1985 and talk with your mum and dad. You already had me, and knew there was going to be a lot of hardship for you in raising me by yourself after he died. What would you tell them to ensure that they would let you marry Pete?"

Grinning, Jackie chuckled. "Simple, really. I'd show them you."

Rose smiled. This went exactly where she wanted it to. Nodding, she reached to the side and put her hand on Jenny's knee. "Mmm-hmm," she hinted.

Jackie started. "He's not dead is he?"

"What? No! No, he's just _fine_," Rose said quickly. "He's just not here at the moment."

"And just where's he off to?" Jackie asked rather accusingly. "Hiding is he?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Still at Mickey's reception in 2010, and a bit put out that we came here. Not like we had much choice, but I could tell he was upset about being left behind."

"Irony," Jenny giggled.

Smiling wide at that, Rose chuckled and nodded at her. "Serves him right. He'll get over it."

"2010? Reception?" Jackie, blinked.

Rose preened a bit. "Yeah, I was Mick's 'Best Mate' when he married Martha."

"You're talking like time travel's real, swee'hear'," Jackie said a bit sadly.

Jenny took this point with a smile and a raised hand. "Hello, I'm Jennifer Lillian Tyler. I'm twenty four Earth years old, and my mother's thirty three Earth years old. How else could that happen without time travel?"

"You're in a _time machine_, mum," Rose added chidingly. "How else do you think it would've appeared in the living room?"

"I … I don't know. This is all too weird. That book isn't supposed to be real!" Jackie complained.

"Where do you think H.G. Wells got the idea?" Celeste asked with a smirk.

Rose looked at her with wide eyes. "You're joking."

Celeste smiled and shook her head with a wistful sigh. "That one's on me. He was adorable."

Rose stifled a snicker, then laughed loudly. "Oh. My. God. Does the Doctor know that?" Seeing the prideful shake of the head, she turned to her mother. "You all right?"

"This is mad," Jackie whispered. "This is completely mad."

Rose had one more trump card to play. Prodding Jenny to stand, she had her help off the couch. "Mum, would I look four months pregnant in four days?" Emphasizing that, she lifted her blouse to show that it wasn't a pillow or anything.

Jackie's mouth dropped open with a gasp. "Rose!" Standing up, she felt at Rose's belly, then grabbed her left hand. Turning it up, she saw the gorgeous engagement ring. "You better be married, young lady!"

Snorting loudly, Rose pulled Jackie into a hug. "Have a daughter already and been married for a while now, in the ways of his people that is. We've been waiting on an Earth ceremony though."

Head spinning, Jackie pulled back. "Why are you taller? You're not wearing any _shoes_!"

"Oh," Rose blinked. "Uhm, had a growth spurt?" she cringed at the outlandish lie. "S'all right, just two and a half inches. Five sevenish now, I think."

Lost about everything, Jackie felt at Rose's arms, then put a hand on her daughter's forehead. "Jenny, get your mother a blanket," she said quietly. "She's _freezing_."

"Mum," Rose protested, even though she was ecstatic that she just accepted Jenny. "Mum, sit. I'm fine. Really, I'm quite comfortable. In fact, I'm a bit hot." She patted her stomach. "This little man's been making me sweat something _awful_ lately."

Blinking rapidly, Jackie sat down again rather quickly. "I… A boy?"

Just from the look on her face, Rose could tell that she'd reached her limit. "It's okay, mum. Let's just sit quietly for a bit. Are you hungry?" She turned to Celeste. "What's the local time?"

"A bit after noon," Celeste said. "Tell you what, why don't we go to the actual kitchen and whip something up? Then after, we can go back to the reception. From what I understand, Jackie's nearly Michael's second mother. Be a nice wedding present to have her there, you think?"

Rose gaped at her. "Wh- Will that be all right? The timelines…"

"I already told you I can fix it," Celeste said quietly. "Besides, I think a bit of proof, _other than the obvious_, would be just what she needs right now."

"If you say so," Rose said. Turning to her mother, she asked, "Would that be all right? Want to see Mick's new wife?"

"It … I …" she stuttered, then blew out a breath. "Sure, whatever you want," she said quietly.

Eyes popping wide, Jenny sat next to her and hugged her from the side. "Hey now! None of that! Stop with the gloom!"

Jackie's hands went out in front of her. "I. Don't. Know. What's. Going. _Onnnn_." she hissed with a bit of a whine.

Celeste frowned. "Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."

Rose turned and actually glared at her. "So _that's_ where he gets it," she snapped. Crossing her arms, she got snippy. "I don't care _how_ old you are, _Madam Lungbarrow_, but you do _not_ make light of this! Not with my mother!" she said in a shout.

Eyes widening in embarrassment, Celeste put her hand over her mouth. "Oh! I'm so sorry! That was beyond rude of me."

"Rose, calm down. I'm fine," Jackie said. "Don't need you to get wound up. Bad for the baby." Standing, she looked at Celeste. "Was a touch rude, but it's all right. That's something I know how to deal with. Where's this kitchen? And what's wrong with that one?" she asked while pointing at the kitchenette across the way.

"Nothing, just thought you would like to sit at a table?" Celeste said as she stood up. Two steps over, and she had a hand on Jackie's shoulder. "Truly though, please forgive me. I don't know _what_ I was thinking."

Grinning, Jackie pulled her into a hug. "We're fine, and here's good for snacking." She let go of the hug and turned to Rose. "Rose _Lungbarrow_?" she asked with a cringe on her face.

"Doesn't translate all that well, mum, but I kept my name. He tried using Chinese with Shanfei, but I wasn't having that either."

"The literal translation is: The hill of the sighing wind," Celeste offered. "It was where the family holdings and properties were. The wind actually did sound like sighing in the spring."

"Oh, I wish I could've seen it," Rose whispered sadly, then perked up. "C'mon Jen, let's get lunch started."

"Can you do that?" Jackie asked.

Rose simply rolled her eyes. "Mum, I'm pregnant, not dead. Now sit and have a talk with your son in law's mother. Have her spill some dirt on him or something."

Eyes gleaming with a bit of a mad grin, Jackie turned and sat Celeste down with her on the couch. "All right, you. Who's this man that stole my daughter?"

* * *

The ladies were laughing like mad in the middle of lunch, when the TARDIS door opened. Turning sharply at the noise, Rose gasped. "Oh SHIT!"


	22. Surprise

_**"Rose River" AU  
'River Run'  
**__Chapter Twenty Two  
- Surprise -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write.  
This part of the story is something that I'm doing my damnedest to not plagiarize from the Symbolon series by Jenrose. While I did get the idea from there, the happenings are drastically different._

* * *

**2006**

World War Three was just diverted, thanks to Mickey the Idiot and his well placed hacking of a missile. The Doctor was on the phone with Rose, and had just 'tantalized' her with the Horse Head Nebula Storm. Still though. Too many things didn't make sense. After telling her it'd be two hours, he rang off and got to thinking while he was manufacturing a program to wipe anything to do with him off the global networks.

After he burned the disc and placed it in a jewel case, he was in a full brood. "I landed thirty three seconds from the moment I took off, _after going round the bend for two months_. How in the name of everything did I get it off by a year?" he shouted.

Completely frustrated, he called Rose again. ~"Almost done packin'. Gimme a few, yeah? Down in ten minutes."~ Rose said instead of saying hello.

"Good, but that's not why I'm callin'," he started.

~"You're Not Leaving Me Behind!"~

"Never dream of it. Listen. I'm concerned about why the TARDIS was off by a year. I don't want that 'appenin' again. I need to go round the block with the old girl, and check the temporal stabilizers. Might be nothin', but I'm … I don't want that 'appenin' to your mother again. Slaps are one thing, but I can't imagine not knowing what's goin' on with you for three hundred and sixty five standard days. I'm not 'avin' it, so I'm gonna do an end run 'round Pluto without the time circuits on."

~"Not to sound stupid or anythin', but wont you need them on to check them out?"~

The Doctor cringed. _Too smart_, he thought. "I say not on, but what I mean is in standby and runnin' in parallel. If the sequences don't match up right, then it'd be like watching the VCR with the sound bein' five minutes late."

~"Bet it's worse with a DVD player, yeah?"~ she teased him.

"Ah. Yeah. Back in … forty five minutes. Takes that long to get out there and back in normal flight."

~"Come back,"~ she said, her voice sounding a bit small.

His hearts twinged at that. "I promise. If it's nothin' big, then we can be off and fix it on the fly. If not, then you can spend the night while I bang out what's wrong." His voice dropped. "I don't wanna do that to you again."

~"Okay. See you soon."~

He could swear he heard her smiling. "Soon," he agreed with a grin and rang off. Tapping his fingers on his arm, he checked himself. "Five days," he murmured. "One hundred and twenty two hours, and seventeen minutes. That's all it's been, and I don't want to disappoint her." Shaking himself out of it, he went around the console.

Once he was in the vortex, he backtracked a year and tried to see if there were any burps or hiccups that might have caused him to bounce off the location. Coming up with nothing, he was about to go back when a bleeping grabbed his attention.

Angling the monitor up, he flicked the screen through several scans and frowned. "Tha' … That is _not_ supposed to happen," he enunciated with a scowl. Setting the coordinates, he made to land.

Exiting the TARDIS on the roof of the building, the Doctor stumbled a bit when he felt three new minds register in his head. One was very familiar, but the other two weren't. One of those two didn't feel right at all, but also felt so _right_ all at the same time. "What the hell's goin' on?"

He pulled out his sonic and did a cursory scan, and was interrupted when he saw that his ship had graffiti on the side of it. "Bad Wolf," he read with a frown. "Find that little blighter later," he muttered.

Coming down the stairs, he double checked his sonic at the door of Rose's flat. A small debate over knocking went by the wayside, as he unlocked it without really thinking about it. It was quiet, but the sound of a TARDIS was beckoning him. Sounded like _his_ TARDIS, but a hell of a lot stronger.

Exiting the small hall, his eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the ship. The top of it was actually embedded into the ceiling. "This … Is _wrong_." No one should be messing with this flat, and the fact that three Time Lords were inside had him confounded. He didn't feel an echo of himself anywhere, but this was _his_ ship. Newer looking paint, and that ambulance logo was on the door again. The shape of the shell was close, but didn't exactly match any of the previous ones.

He paused, thinking that this might be something he'd be doing in the future. But, the fact remained that there were three other Time Lords in there while he wasn't. One of them he could literally tell how she was feeling. And it was _definitely_ a she, and she was extremely happy.

Setting himself, he unlocked the door and went inside. Laughter from further in the now _massive_ console vestibule ceased when the door creaked rather loudly. His mouth dropped open when he saw the console. It was the same, but much improved. The entire place was spotless and near to shining.

The voice he heard wasn't expected at all, because it was Rose's. "Oh, SHIT!"

"Language," the Doctor complained, then paused. The happy female mind was now in a state of panic, and felt so _strong_. He'd _never_ felt a mind that powerful before.

"You're not supposed to _be_ here!" Rose hissed loudly.

Stepping around the console, the Doctor saw Rose, Jackie, some blond girl, and… a plethora of Gallifreyan oaths and swears came out of his mouth when he saw her. Mouth completely agape, the Doctor wobbled on his feet. "M … muh … _Mother_?"

Celeste stood and made her way over to him. Jenny looked to her mother and commented, "_That's_ why you're pissed at John? I don't understand." Rose waved her down with a shushing noise.

Jackie recognised him and her mouth dropped open. "He's too old for you!" she hissed at Rose.

Jenny swapped seats and put her hand over Jackie's mouth. Mouth to her ear, Jenny made her displeasure known. "That's my father you're talking about, now _shut it_ while we deal with this disaster. It's too soon for him, and I've never seen him with that face before."

The Doctor's eyes never left Celeste as she came up to him. Her soft smile made his stomach drop. "Son, we're out of synch. Calm now. Breathe."

"Before or after?" he whispered.

Knowing what he meant, she smiled. "After, darling. I'm so _proud_ of you."

A small sound leapt out of his throat, and the Doctor bent down to hug her close. Celeste held onto him tightly, while the Doctor started to literally vibrate with emotion. His throat started working again, and the sound grew from a small moan to a loud howling.

Hearing that out of her husband, she could feel the anguish coming off of him in waves. The sight of him shaking in loud sobs had her off the sofa, and over to the pair of them quicker than her body liked. Before anyone realised what was happening, she was holding on to him from the back while he cried.

Jackie pulled Jenny's hand from her mouth and wiped the tears off her granddaughter's face. "Swee'hear', tell me what's goin' on. Why's he actin' like that?"

Sniffing, Jenny tried to explain. "There was a war, and dad was the only survivor for a long long time. It's only been recently that we were able to save two more: A close friend, and Grammie Celeste."

"I don't understand," Jackie whispered. "War where, and why was she involved?"

Jenny looked at her. "Grams, we're in a time machine, yeah? Our people had dominion over Time itself. The war encompassed everything, especially dad's home planet. It was destroyed."

Only just now realising that Jenny was part alien, Jackie paused to look back over at the Doctor. She remembered uncle Lou from when he came back from that Falklands Conflict, and he'd never been the same since. Thinking about that, she worried over Rose being involved with someone with that kind of horror in their past, but she couldn't help feeling sorry for the man.

The Doctor couldn't help it. His mother was alive and the tears wouldn't stop. He could feel his ship's matrix caressing his mind comfortingly. Wait, that's not right. His breath was stuck in chuffing hiccups, and he realised that mental embrace was coming from _Rose_. Becoming aware of his surroundings again, he relaxed his grip on his mother and felt Rose hugging him from behind.

Wiping his face, he stood up straight and looked over his shoulder. "Wha?"

Celeste rubbed his cheek and stepped back. "Son, may I introduce you to your wife?"

Looking down a bit, Rose's cheeks were just as wet as his were. "You … How?"

"Hello," Rose said quietly with a watery smile, not letting go of him. "Uhm, surprise?"

"You," he stuttered. "You're mind. I," he swallowed as she wiped his eyes. "How is this possible?" he rasped.

Swallowing herself, Rose bit her lip. "Where are you now? When?"

"I lied and said I was doing a calibration run around Pluto."

A half giggle breathed out of her. "Five days. It's only been five _days_ for you. Oh my God." Blinking, she pushed his coat apart and hugged him from inside it. "Ohhh, this is too much, yeah? I'm sorry."

Standing there, the Doctor was completely gobsmacked. Didn't stop him from returning the hug though, and he put his face in her hair. Her scent flooded his nose, and the sigh that came out of him surprised her. "I lied," he whispered.

"'Bout what?" she mumbled into his jumper.

"That 'for a human' bit was a dodge. Didn't realize I was talkin' till my mouth closed."

Rose giggled. "Love doin' that to ya," she said quietly, then her head popped back to look at him. "Hold on. That was day two. You felt it then?"

His face was sheepish. "Yeah," he grinned.

She smiled wide. "Good." Reaching up with her left hand, she pulled him down and snogged him.

Feeling something nudging his lower stomach, the Doctor felt down to her waist. His brow arched when he felt the bump of her pregnancy. _"Mine?" _he thought to her, still reeling that he could do that and have her hear him.

"_Yeah,"_ she answered drunkenly in his head, while her tongue was doing lazy circles in his mouth.

"_How?"_ he asked. _"I'm supposed to be sterile."_

"_Tell you later," _she complained. _"Now shut it and kiss me dammit!"_ Once he focussed on what he was doing, Rose melted completely and relied on him to keep her standing.

"I should put a stop to this," Jackie mumbled.

Jenny glared at her. "You do, and I'll slap you into next Thursday," she growled. "Leave them alone. How would you feel if your parents disrupted you and Granddad?"

"He's dead, so it doesn't matter," she snapped.

Jenny got a hold of her jaw and forced her to look her in the eye. "The reason we're here, is because you are in a parallel world in our present, married to Granddad's counterpart, with uncle Tony and aunt Laura. You keep this up, and I'll wipe your mind of this whole event right now. I don't care if your my grandmother or not. Leave. Them. Alone."

Blinking at that and not completely understanding anything she said, Jackie looked back over to her daughter, and saw Celeste scowling at her. Frowning and not liking it, Jackie clamped her mouth shut.

"_I don't think your mum likes me," _the Doctor said, causing Rose to giggle in his mind.

"_She got over it. Gave her blessing years ago."_

"_You stay with me that long?"_

"_We're bound. I wanted forever; meant it; and made it happen. Relax, would you?" Dear God,_ Rose thought to herself,_ I want him screaming for God and mean me._

The Doctor broke the kiss finally, a bit shocked. "I heard that," he whispered. "Had the same thought about you once or twice."

"More than a couple, I imagine," Rose said, blushing scarlet through her smile.

"You could say that," he grinned.

Toeing the floor, Rose twisted and bit her lip with her head tilted to the side. "Want to meet your daughter?" she asked quietly.

He glanced down at her stomach, then back up to her in surprise. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that girl sitting next to a very peeved Jackie.

Jenny grinned and waved a finger at him. "Hi dad."

Blinking, the Doctor gave the room the once over. His mother was alive, he was apparently married to Rose, and their daughter was being cheeky. "I need to sit down."

After getting him on the couch, Jackie couldn't hold it in any longer. "You're too old for her!"

He gave her a dry look. "I'm too old for anyone on the planet. Now is that what your problem is, or is this about me turning you down?"

Rose gaped at her. "You hit on my husband?"

"He wasn't at the time!" Jackie complained. "You're still to old for her."

"Jackie, I'm well over a thousand years old. Just whom do you think I should dance with?" he snarked.

Baulking at him, Jackie looked at Celeste, who nodded. "And I'm way older than that, my dear. After so long, it doesn't pay to keep track of it."

"So, what. You gonna watch my daughter grow old?" Jackie half shouted.

"Not so much, no," Rose snapped. "The reason I feel so cold to you, is because I'm like him."

"Don't be stupid," Jackie said in disgust.

"Would you like to check my heart?" Rose asked, pointing to the right side of her chest. "Or, would you rather check the other one?" she snarked while pointing at the left side of her chest.

The Doctor's head snapped to look at her in shock. "How did that happen?"

Pausing, Rose looked at Celeste. "How much can I tell him? Can you fix him too?"

"Could do it meself," the Doctor said. "Might be better if she'd do it though. I'd wanna keep too much."

Nodding, Rose took a deep breath. "We were facing Daleks," she paused as he stiffened in alarm. "Yeah, sorry. But, you tricked me into the TARDIS and sent me home, expecting to die. I wasn't having it, and opened the console with mum's help. Our dear and I had a mental conference; vortex energy spun in my brain; I saved your life; ensured Jenny would be born in the future; spun my DNA into triple helices; and pretty much was damned fantastic about it."

"You should've _died_," the Doctor breathed in outright shock. "That much power would kill _anyone_."

"I _helped_ you?" Jackie asked. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you realized that I loved him with everything I am, and the thought of him dying was _killing_ me." Pausing to let herself calm down, she realized that some of that was false, but couldn't figure out which part. Blowing out a breath, she leaned against the Doctor. He responded by putting his arm around her. "Too much," she muttered.

"Too much." Turning her head into the Doctor's shoulder, she thought to him. _"Hold me."_ Despite everything, Rose was deliriously happy at that moment. She had her husband, her daughter, and her mother in the same room. Sure it wasn't exactly right, but she didn't care.

"_You're the same in every way that matters," _Rose thought to him again. _"I don't care what you look like. You're mine, and I love you."_

As for the Doctor, he just sat there in awe of what was going on. Sure, Jackie was a right pill, but that didn't matter. He had a family: A _real_ family. Not knowing what else to do, he simply ran his fingers through Rose's hair, marvelling over everything he just learned.

Still though, something glittering caught his eye. Glancing over, he saw diamond ring on Jenny's hand. "You're engaged?"


End file.
